David Tennant Virgin Media ad pulled after BBC complaint

[dutchman]

Virgin Media has agreed to drop a television advert featuring David Tennant after complaints from the BBC that the Doctor Who brand was being used to promote TiVo.



The major new ad campaign features Tennant and Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson showcasing the new 'Collections' product bundles, which make the TiVo service standard for the first time.

However, the cable operator has withdrawn the first television advert in the campaign as a "gesture of goodwill", after the BBC objected that the Doctor Who brand was being used to promote TiVo, reports the Radio Times.

The TV ad, which premiered during the return of ITV1's Britain's Got Talent this month, features the former Time Lord searching through his own acting back catalogue using TiVo, while Branson builds his own time machine.

During the original sequence, the Doctor Who logo and a description of the programme was clearly visible.

BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, contacted Virgin to say that this was in breach of its guidelines governing the commercial endorsement of third parties.

Virgin responded by removing the Doctor Who logo from the advert, but has now agreed to pull the commercial entirely from TV and YouTube. Two other ads in the campaign, which feature Tennant but not Doctor Who, will still be shown.

In a joint statement, Virgin Media and BBC Worldwide said: "Virgin Media has listened to concerns raised by BBC Worldwide about perceived commercial endorsement by a BBC brand relating to the recent Virgin Media ad.

"As a gesture of goodwill, Virgin Media has agreed to withdraw the ad and BBC Worldwide is satisfied that the issue has been addressed."

[dutchman]

Personally I object to the advert on other grounds. TiVo already has a stranglehold on the US cable market where people now have to pay TiVo a monthly fee to record programmes which were previously free-to-air.

Fortunately for the UK, cable has a relatively small share of viewers compared to Freeview or Sky.