Big Brother: Scheduling Changes
Big Brother returns for the sixteenth year of the show, but this time things are a little different.
Scheduling:
Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother are both given a huge shake up in the way they're planned and scheduled on Channel 5. Celebrity Big Brother remains on air twice a year, and civilian Big Brother just once. In a change from the traditional run, Big Brother will now come first.
To accommodate the show, the year before these changes are implemented, the show will be given a break from the air. Following the final version of the summer Celebrity Big Brother and the final traditional scheduling run, the series will then be off air between September 2015 and January 2017.
January - March: Big Brother 17
July: Celebrity Big Brother 17
October - November: Celebrity Big Brother 18
Big Brother 17:
The civilian edition of Big Brother will be cut back to just seven weeks. Big Brother would return on Thursday 5th January and run for 58 days, eventually ending on Friday 3rd March. This means that the civilian series would have less major competition and potentially increase viewing figures. The series would have 12 Housemates overall.
Celebrity Big Brother 17:
Following the run of Big Brother in January, Celebrity Big Brother would then return in July for the next series. Celebrity Big Brother would launch on Monday 3rd July and run for 26 days, eventually ending on Friday 28th July. This means there is a larger gap between the two series, giving a fair chance to both in terms of promotion and scheduling.
Celebrity Big Brother 18:
Celebrity Big Brother would then return for its contracted second series in October. This series of Celebrity Big Brother would be shorter than the other, launching on Thursday 19th October and ending on Friday 10th November, lasting 23 days. As there is more competition in October and November, the series would be cut short to try and maintain the ratings.