Big Brother on channel 5 next year

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Richard Desmond is in talks to take Big Brother to Channel 5 next year.

The show's run on Channel 4 is to end next month, with last night's Big Brother 11 final to be followed by two and a half weeks of Ultimate Big Brother to find the most popular housemate from the past 10 years.

Talks are now said to be in progress between Channel 5 and Big Brother producer Endemol UK.

However, it is understood the full details of the deal are still to be finalised and no announcement is imminent.

Northern & Shell and Channel 5 declined to comment.

Desmond has publicly declared his interest in buying the series, despite the fact that many observers believe it is a tired format.

Channel 4 announced last year the 11th series would be the last. It will end with the Ultimate Big Brother final on Friday, 10 September.

Last night's Big Brother 11 winner Josie Gibson has been joined by 11 former housemates, including Ulrika Jonsson, Brian Dowling, Nick Bateman and Nadia Almada, for the show's final fling on Channel 4.

Northern & Shell, Desmond's privately owned media group, originally teamed up with Endemol with the intention of mounting a joint bid for the UK's fourth largest terrestrial channel.

But Desmond eventually bought Channel 5 last month from pan-European broadcaster RTL for £103.5m without the need for a partner.

Channel 4 signed a three-year contract with Endemol for Big Brother in 2006, which was said at the time to be worth up to £70m.

The first three-year deal Channel 4 signed with Endemol for Big Brother in 2002 was understood to have cost the broadcaster up to £40m.

Desmond is likely to pay far less than that. One senior TV industry insider said that £30m might be a more realistic figure now that the show's popularity has waned.

Big Brother's ratings peaked in 2002 with series three, won by Kate Lawler. The series averaged 5.3 million viewers, with 9.2 million for the final.

Average viewing figures for the main summer series remained over 4 million for the next four years, before beginning to dip in 2007 after the Shilpa Shetty race row engulfed Celebrity Big Brother.

In 2009 Big Brother 10 averaged about 2.2 million. This year's final Big Brother series on Channel 4 has seen an improvement in ratings, but it is still nowhere near the show's pre-2007 heyday.

Endemol has spent heavily on the Big Brother house and related studio facilities at Elstree in Hertfordshire and the show also employs a large dedicated staff.

Closing or mothballing the studio and moving employees to other parts of the business would be costly and Endemol is likely to need a swift decision on whether the show will continue next year on Channel 5.

Desmond's newspaper and magazine empire, which also includes the Daily Star, OK! and New!, would be free to promote the show heavily if he can agree terms with Endemol, providing it with valuable free publicity. Under cross-ownership rules, he is barred from promoting his print titles on Channel 5.

He is likely to reinstate Celebrity Big Brother and may extend the main show's 13-week run if he can secure a deal.

Channel 5 is heavily dependent on imported US shows including the CSI franchise and its spin-off series, but it has so far failed to produce a homegrown hit with the clout of Big Brother.

Big Brother would instantly become the broadcaster's biggest asset. If a deal can be concluded, the challenge will be to prove that there is still an appetite for the show among the viewing public.

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He is in talks...
If a deal can be concluded...

No, you misunderstand, I was after a link to the story confirming this. Thickets

Fearne