BBC Digital Trouble

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The BBC has received a roasting from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for an advert for its digital channels.

The watchdog said the poster campaign - under the headline "six new bright channels from the BBC" - was misleading because the channels were not new.

Objections were raised that some, including BBC News 24 and CBBC, had been available for several years.

The BBC said that the posters were aimed at the 54% of homes that did not already have access to digital TV.

It said research had been conducted over four years that showed that the majority of the target audience were unaware of the BBC's digital channels.

It added that those targeted identified the digital channels as new because they had been unable to receive them.

The BBC said it had stopped using the posters and had no plans to use them in the future.

The ASA said that while it noted the comments it "considered that because the advertised channels had been available for some time they could not reasonably be described as new".

Children's channels CBBC and Cbeebies were launched in 2002, while BBC News 24 began transmission in 1997.
 
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