Sky under fire for 'limited' HD TV offering

The Advertising Standards Authority has rejected a claim concerning Sky's HD output

Satellite broadcaster Sky has been dragged before the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), accused of making exaggerated claims about its high-definition TV offering.

The complainant said that Sky's HD TV ads did not make clear the limitations of its service, and that "of the seven HD channels shown, most broadcast very limited HD output".

The complainant added that he had performed a survey of the HD content of his Sky HD service in September and found that, at any one time, less than 50 per cent of the programmes originated in HD.

The press ads in question made claims including: 'High Definition is the biggest revolution in television viewing since colour superseded black and white. Just imagine the difference four times more detail, depth and vibrant colour will make to your TV experience.'

Another advertisement brought before the ASA stated: 'Feel every touch of every ball with all your favourite live sport from football to cricket. You won't see the difference that four times more detail, depth and vibrant colour will make to your TV experience until you feel it for yourself with Sky HD.'

In response to the complaints British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) said that 100 per cent of the content on its HD channels was broadcast in HD.

The company explained that there were two types of HD content: some that had originated in HD, and some that was up-converted to, and broadcast in, HD.

BSkyB pointed out that Sky HD now showed more programmes originating in HD every month than the five terrestrial television channels showed standard definition (SD) content in any month.

The broadcaster asserted that, during the period to which the complaint related from 23 May until 4 September 2006, 74 per cent of Sky HD's content originated in HD, when the content of the pay-per-view channel Sky Box Office was taken into account, and the rest was up-converted to, and broadcast in, HD.

In throwing out the complaint the ASA noted that the Sky HD service had comprised seven channels at the time the complaint was made, but that new HD channels had since been added to the service.