Friday, February 23, 2007

Sky ads highlight Ofcom cock-up

Sky have been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority for publishing misleading adverts in Whitehaven, Cumbria that incorrectly state Terrestrial TV will be switched off there this Autumn. Essentially, they should have used the word "Analogue", not "Terrestrial", which is going to survive quite happily as "Digital Terrestrial" (aka Freeview). The reason these ads have been running in Whitehaven is that it is the testbed for analogue switch-off; it's happening there in October this year.

The most ridiculous thing about that seems to be being over-looked in all this though. Ofcom have chosen to testbed the analogue switch-off in a town which cannot yet receive Freeview or Cable!!! Essentially leaving Sky a complete monopoly on digital television. Not only is this a complete distortion of the market that puts Freeview and Virgin right up the swanny, it is also a completely unrepresentative testbed for analogue switch-off. Bloody numpties, what a waste of time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ofcom, BBC... couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

It's like turning off irrigation in sub-saharan Africa and forcing everyne to drink Dasani.

Or something.