SDCC 10 Interview : Kill Shakespeare
July 16, 2010 – 8:13 pm | View Comments

EOS’s favourite comic of the year is ‘Kill Shakespeare’, so we caught up with creative duo Conor McCreery and Anthony del Col to find out their plans for the comic book event of the year …

Read the full story »
Interviews

Interviews with showrunners and actors

News

All the latest news on television

Podcasts

We spend hundreds of hours discussing TV for iTunes

Reviews

We work out the good and bad of the telebox

Home » Featured, Headline, News

EXCLUSIVE: Big Brother UK producers examine reintroducing Live Feed

Submitted by Kevin.Beaumont on June 8, 2009 – 4:50 pmView Comments

End Of Show understands Channel 4 and ENDEMOL UK are in discussions to resume the “Live Feed” for Big Brother 10.

bb-channel4-livefeed

As we exclusively reported last month, Channel 4 took an axe to the series budget this year.  Changes included (but were not limited to) the removal the Live Feed from the House.

End Of Show has been told by a source inside production that meetings are taking place to discuss the reintroduction of the house live feed.  However, at this stage it’s only meeting talk.  Nothing has been signed.

We have not been told the reasoning for these discussions.  We can only speculate the negativity amongst the Big Brother fan base and lack of press coverage for this series would be contributing factors, along with the generally lackluster ratings to date.  This publication has received mail from viewers complaining about the lack of live feed, and whilst researching this story we discovered Big Brother host Davina McCall saying online: “With all this feeling… Find a petition and sign it.. C4 will listen to feedback I’m sure”.

Another cost cutting measure people haven’t seemed to pick up on yet – the removal of the donation to charity for each vote.  The vote cost has remained static this year, but Endemol and Channel 4 are retaining all money this series, wiping out the mid-six figure charity donation made by fans in recent series.

What do you think?  Vote in our poll and sound off below.

[poll id="2"]

  • Nick
    I loved watching BB live, and for me it made the show and is what i loved the most about it,now it is just like any other one hour show and although still entertaining not quite what it was,lets have the live feeds back CH4
  • Maureen
    Echo the previous comments regarding no live coverage, very, very disappointing. Sorry BB you have made a big, big, mistake, you are driving your regular loyal viewers away, who wants to watch just 1 hour of edited highlights of an evening.
  • dot souness
    I would like to say thanks to Channel 4 they did produce BB superbly initially. But thank goodness Sky or Virgin will get it in future. I am convinced channel 4 are trying to kill it, but they have no chance. Reinstall the red button reinstall the 2 or 4 hours earlier button and even if everyones asleep theres something to watch. With thousands prepared to switch internet providers and all that advertising Sky or Virgin will snap it up.
  • Owain
    I agree wholeheartedly with all of the comments. I was soooooo looking forward to this years Big B. I always do! It is just not the same show. Too many cutbacks and too many excuses.

    I urge everybody to email C4 and find as many petitions you can. This is growing in momentum. If Fridays eviction has low ratings then they have to sit up and listen.

    C4 call Big Brother their 'flagship show', then please can they start showing it and its fans some respect!

    Very dissappointed BB Fan
  • just though i would put my 2p worth in

    c4 have cut back so much this year with davina hosting big moth once a week after eviction and no more text voting

    if anything c4 are loosing money on votes but having no live feed i doubt there will be a big brother next year as they wil have lost 90% of the regular voters and viewers

    who ever came up with this cost cutting plan needs sacking then shot

    NO LONGER WATCHING BIG BROTHER
  • Maureen
    Please bring back the live feed its not worth watching if we cant see what the housemates are doing during the day
  • Becks
    Yes please bring back the live feed i can only watch in the day
  • karen
    All i want to say is my life evolves around big brother i am an avid fan an wish channel 4 would get there act together an gives us 24/7 live feed back of big brother an not the 60minutes catch up, live is best please bring it back. So disappointed life is not the same, please bring back.
  • johnn stone
    like we all say wats the point without live feed .was so looking forward to this years big brother but not anymore. please bring back...
  • diane
    come on channel 4. get it sorted out......... how can you expect people to vote after only watching your edited 1 hour show each night! i have watched the live feed for 9 years now and i'm so annoyed you haven't got it on this year! i have just got multiroom installed so i can watch it with out getting shouted at to turn over!!

    please please please please put the live feed back on!!
  • Jake
    no LF = no show stop being tight Channel 4 and do what are hard earned tax's money pays you for please .
  • BB10RIP
    Total Agree 100% with the previous Posters about live feed here !

    Bring Back Live feed 24/7 in any form and stop treating viewers with Contempt with generic emails containing patronising language

    Simples
  • Dobby
    Yes we need Live Feed Back. There is no point otherwise!
  • anne
    Well quess what I am going to talk about. Yes you have it in one Channel 4 and their inability to cater for their audiences.

    Audiences will only put up with so much and at the moment the behaviour being exhibited by C4 has more or less hit the limit.

    We in this country have always had access to Live Feed when watching Big Brother. However this year C4 has not only decided to decided to limit Live Feed to the early hours of the morning.

    Most people are asleep during the early hours fof the morniing. Well this decision by C4 has completely ruined the show is the viewing figures are anything to go by. Apparently last night Monday the 8th of June only 1.9 million people tuned in to watch the show.
    It is the lowest in history for a Monday.

    We want the Live Feed put back so Bring Back Live Feed via the Red Button or whatever but just bring it back and then we can start to save the show.
  • Starmist
    BB this year is dying on it's feet, or rather being pushed closer to the edge by CH4! I hate their highlight shows due to the blatant manipulation of the CH4 favourite that goes on. I am a mature adult and want to make up my own mind, thanks very much! Come on CH4 do the decent thing! Re-instate the live feed!
  • Feathers33
    C4 should really bring back the live feed. Even if it's only internet streaming. C4 go on about cost cuts and such, but people have offered to pay for any live feed to cover costs.
    This show is dying without it.
    I wouldnt have bothered going onto BB if i had known that i was only going to be shown for an hour a day... Did the housemates know about this before they went in?
    Feathers xx
  • Having had email conversations with C4 over the live feed it has been stated that the main reason for no live feed is the cost of screening the stream to ensure that it did not breach any of the Broadcast Code. So the complaints of the past years and consequences are now coming to light.
  • Scots rool
    That's BS. The complaints all came from the highlight shows & not from the live feed!

    The CH4 execs are incapable of telling the truth.

    I have sent numerous emails to them since before CBB started. They said the removal of the red button was down to financial reasons, then they said there wasn't sufficient interest in the red button. They then stated they had offered the red button on a pay for view last summer. Strangely enough no-one took them up on their offer - they could access it for free via the TV. Go figure!

    They closed their own forum down, citing cost was the reason. However they said they've ploughed a lot of cash into the new CH4 site.......that's the one which they never update with news. It hasn't been updated for hours, bit like their Twitter pages!They need to put their hands up & admit they're either completely inept or they have no interest in producing BB now.
    Oh & they also have £153.9 MILLION sitting in the bank.
  • Scots rool
    It's an absolute travesty that CH4 decided for the 10th anniversary of Big Brother to celebrate it with a 45 minute highlight show (allowing for ad breaks), stopped all net coverage & also live feed (except during the middle of the night).

    What the hell is wrong with these guys?

    The whole concept of BB is an Orwellian landscape where the housemates are viewed by the public & producers 24/7. Otherwise it's a sanitised soap opera with the producers deciding what we see!

    I was an avid fan of BB (watched every one of them), this year I watched the launch show & nothing else. If the heads of CH4 wanted to alienate the viewing public they've done an excellent job of that. Well done guys.

    They should hang their heads in shame, we're the only country in the world without a live feed.
  • bbfan
    I have always been a big fan of this show for entertainment purposes as well as viewing from a psychological aspect too so it's frustrating to not be able to watch in the same light, BB is not big brother for me without proper live feed and it's hard not to view it as an 'orchestrated farce'! BRING BACK 24/7 LIVE FEED!
  • debs(cah)
    The whole concept of big brother was to be able to watch the housemates 24/7
    After being an avid viewer via the red button of the previous 9 BBS I am really disappointed with this years show. Even though i have tried watching the highlights and the limited live feed we have, i have been unable to connect with any of the housemates this year
    Unfortunatley due to the above i am now rapidly losing interest and without a 24/7 live feed it saddens me to say i won't be watching anymore of this years Big bro
    Please C4 give us back our 24/7 live feed
  • Malery
    Heh, 98% in favour. Take note, C4.
  • JR
    Davina knows squat, she's just a monkey. The organ grinder on the other hand deserves to have its broadcasting licence revoked permanently.
  • Brenda GROOM
    Dear Channel 4 Re Big Brother, I've watched everyone of your Big Brothers and loved them. But!! sorry this years Big Bro is a huge disappointment to me because of your lack of the red button!!. I do not feel part of the Big Bro house or know the house mates as in all the last Big Bro's. Surely with the drop in veiwing figures it would be beneficial to reintroduce the red button, cause for me you've ruined my yearly fix of BIG BROTHER and i shall not be an avid veiwer anymore
    yours a very disappointed BIG BRO fan
  • Cates
    Big Brother is all about housemates being continuously monitored by cameras - it has no point if the footage is then edited to >60 mins a day. 24/7 live feed is the essence of the show - that's what makes it Big Brother.

    In a content-hungry industry this constitutes a valuable resource which could be sold on to a third party for transmission either through terrestial/internet/satellite broadcast.

    So the economic argument is pretty weak imho - seems short-sighted at best and at worst killing the goose that lays golden eggs.
blog comments powered by Disqus