Virgin Media investigated over regular advertising bans

Virgin Media has been investigated by BBC One's Watchdog after seeing 25 of its adverts banned for infringing on industry guidelines in the last 18 months alone.

The cable company was rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for creating misleading or factually incorrect ads, prompting Watchdog to look into why it has fallen foul of the regulator so often.

Responding to the investigation, the internet service provider (ISP) stressed that all of its commercials were approved prior to being broadcast and said it welcomes scrutiny of its broadband advertising.

Virgin Media also pointed to the fact that it performs consistently well for customer satisfaction, with Ofcom's latest data revealing the company received just 0.15 complaints per 1,000 subscribers during the second quarter of 2012.

Only Sky received fewer complaints, with 0.1 for every 1,000 customers.

Despite this, Virgin Media insisted: "We recognise that we sometimes make mistakes and, when we do, we put our hands up and do everything we can to fix the problem."

However, the ISP went on to express its frustration at the ASA's perceived failure to "address the issues that really matter to consumers", given that some rivals do not communicate the broadband speeds customers are likely to receive.