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Channel 5 renews Big Brother for three more years

Broadcaster to air two series of Celebrity Big Brother and one series of traditional format until end of 2018

Channel 5 has struck a deal to broadcast Big Brother for the next three years.

Under the deal, which in the past has paid as much as £20m a year to air the hit reality TV show, has secured the rights to broadcast Big Brother until the end of 2018.

The deal will see Channel 5 continue to air two series of Celebrity Big Brother and one series of the traditional format each year, as well as various associated spin-off themed shows.

“Big Brother in all its guises brings a huge and varied cross section of viewers to Channel 5 and typifies the appointment-to-view programming we want on the channel,” said Channel 5 chief operating officer Paul Dunthorne.

Big Brother is one of the most important shows in the Channel 5 schedule, with an average of about 3 million viewers tuning in to watch Katie Price beat Katie Hopkins in the most recent series of Celebrity Big Brother.

Viacom, which bought Channel 5 from Richard Desmond for £463m last year, has extended the reach of Big Brother to its MTV UK channel to run repeats.

Channel 5 struck the deal with Initial, a production subsidiary of Endemol Shine UK.

“Channel 5 is a fantastic home for Big Brother,” said Initial managing director Nick Samwell-Smith. “Over the past four years we’ve worked closely together to keep this extraordinary format feeling fresh, noisy, and creatively vibrant. I’m thrilled that this landmark deal means we can look forward to three more years of big characters and juicy storylines from inside our favourite house.”

Channel 5’s last deal to air Big Brother was struck for two years in 2012.

The Guardian