Channel 4 Will Not Profit From Big Brother Phone Votes

Channel 4 has said that it will not profit from phone votes for Big Brother 8, after cutting the price of eviction voting from 50p to just 25p.

The reduced charge will cover all the costs to Channel 4 of administering the eviction votes, including a 10p donation to charity for each vote cast.

The move comes shortly after Ofcom ruled that the broadcaster must apologise on air over its handling of the Celebrity Big Brother race row last year (see Ofcom Announces Celebrity Big Brother Ruling). The show also experienced voting problems after an on screen mix up, which resulted in votes being scrapped (see Big Bro Blunder Signals Further Woe For C4).

In previous series of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, calls were charged at 50p and Channel 4 retained a profit from each call after administration costs and the 10p charity donation.

Channel 4 will no longer be offering viewers the option of voting to evict via text message (SMS) during the upcoming series of Big Brother. This is because the mobile phone operators cannot process the votes within a time frame suitable for the voting procedures on the programme.

Announcing the changes, Channel 4 managing director of new media, Andy Taylor, said: “The voting has been fair and transparent throughout Big Brother‘s eight years on air, but given the recent focus on the use of premium rate phone lines on TV, we want to ensure the audience has absolute confidence in the evictions, which are absolutely integral to the show’s success.

“Cutting the cost of phone votes will hopefully encourage the highest possible number of our viewers to interact with the programme.”

As with the channel’s current PRTS voting services, the voting process will be monitored by an external law firm.

Channel 4: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com