Internet service provider (ISP) Sky has launched a legal challenge against Virgin Media over the firm's current online advertising campaign.

Sky has taken exception to its rival's Stop the Broadband Con viral internet campaign, in which it calls for greater honesty from broadband providers over download speeds.

According to Sky, the campaign is "grossly misleading" and wrongly implies that ISPs are deceiving broadband customers, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The broadband provider also claimed that its adverts were described as "poxy" in a Virgin Media YouTube ad.

Representing Sky, law firm Osborne Clarke argued that the adverts "clearly go beyond the scope of robust and objective comparison".

The firm claimed they amounted to "an unjustified denigratory attack on Sky and its business practices".

A complaint has been made to the Advertising Standards Authority, which has the authority to ban advertising materials which breach its code of good practice.