Richard Desmond's Channel 5 is poised to sign a £200m five-year deal to bring back Big Brother following months of tortuous negotiations between his company and the programme's producer, Endemol.
There were hopes that the deal could have been announced this week, but last-minute legal wrangles continue to delay the announcement of a plan that has been mooted since Desmond bought the channel last summer.
Because of the time taken by the talks, the earliest Big Brother could come back on air is understood to be August. A three-week run of Celebrity Big Brother is expected to be followed by a run of Big Brother into the autumn and winter.
Desmond is hoping he could lure Cheryl Cole into hosting Big Brother – an effort fuelled by this morning's Daily Star splash "Cheryl's New B Bro Babe" – but the star's camp totally dismissed the public overtures.
"Cheryl has not been approached, and she has no interest in presenting Big Brother," said a spokesman for the singer, noting that star was still waiting to hear whether she would be able to present The X Factor in the US.
So difficult have the Channel 5-Endemol discussions been that Desmond and Ynon Kreiz, the Endemol chief executive, are no longer speaking. That led to talks collapsing in the autumn, and the negotiations only resumed with the intervention of Michael Sherwood, the vice-chairman of Goldman Sachs, whose bank is a one-third shareholder in Endemol.
After the falling-out, Desmond – who still wants Big Brother for the ratings he thinks it will bring – delegated responsibility for the negotiations to Jeff Ford, the Channel 5 director of programmes.
Only in 2012, would Big Brother return to its traditional schedule – running the celebrity show in January, before reappearing with the traditional group of wannabes in the summer months.
That would mean an almost continuous run of Big Brother programmes – running night after night – on Channel 5 from August to January. At the same time, the channel plans to revamp its schedule, with programmes such as Candy Bar Girls, a reality show documenting the "life and loves" of six lesbians who work in a bar in London's Soho.
Channel 5 was expected to generate £260m in revenues in 2010 at the time of its sale by RTL to Desmond for £103.5m in July. But the uptick in the ad market has taken that figure to close to £300m and the channel is generating an estimated £3m of operating profit a month.
This year, Channel 5 is aiming to generate £350m in turnover, again helped by a strong start for TV advertising in 2011, but the anticipated spend on Big Brother and other new programmes may mean that profit growth is not as rapid as the turnover growth implies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/31/big-brother-channel-5-to-sign-deal
TV Talk: KOAA sweeps February TV ratings
KOAA/Channel 5 finished first in the majority of newscasts in the February Sweeps numbers recently released from The Nielsen Company.
News First 5 placed first with its 5 to 7 a.m., noon, 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, while there was a tight horse race in the key demographic of 25-to-54 years olds in late-night news viewing.
“I am just so proud of our great staff and their hard work, and I know that under Evan Pappas’ new leadership at the station, they will continue to raise the bar,” said David Whitaker, retiring president and general manager of News First 5. Pappas took the helm Friday.
Fox21 improved both 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. newscast numbers ,with both shows scoring the highest number of viewers in over a year.
“Joe (Cole) and his team are doing a great job,” said Steve Dant, KXRM/Channel 21 general manager. “I think a lot of people who go to bed early are finding that 9 p.m. newscast.”
“We had gains in the morning, were very competitive at 12 p.m. and would have liked to have done better at 5, 6 and 10,” said Tim Larson, KRDO general manager.
For more numbers, go to my blog: springstvtalk.freedomblogging.com.
Shifting gears
McKenzie Martin, KKTV/channel 11 weekend anchor/reporter, announced Saturday night that her career will be shifting gears.
“I will be working as an outside sales rep in the bicycle industry,” Martin said in an e-mail. “I will still be freelancing and filing in at KKTV from time to time and am staying in the Springs.”
Martin joined KKTV in 2006 from KOBF/Channel 12 in Farmington, N.M., where she did news as well as serving as sports director, winning several awards from the New Mexico Broadcasters Association and Associated Press.
Chillin’ at KOOL 105.5
Dan Hardee is heading for chillier climes at KOOL 105.5, MIX 100 and 92.5 The Wolf in Denver as creative services director.
Hardee began his tour with Citadel Broadcasting in September, 2006.
“I can’t thank Operations Manager Bobby Irwin and the Citadel staff enough for everything I learned to help me make the next big move in my career,” Hardee said in an e-mail.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/koaa-9945-colsprings-february-sweeps.html#ixzz1IaXuOslp
No comments:
Post a Comment