[Tom]

Its the Daily Star, take it with a HUGE pinch of salt, I don't think its true though because of the amount it makes the channel but still:

BIG Brother could be axed from our TV screens because of a funding crisis, we can reveal.

Channel 4 needs to make big savings and the nation’s favourite reality TV show could be under threat.


Industry watchdog Ofcom say C4 could run up annual debts of around £100million over the next five years.


TV licence cash may have to be diverted from the BBC to prop up the channel.


But programmes could now be slashed and Big Brother 10 scheduled for next summer might become a casualty.


The show has been hit by a string of scandals in recent years which have left telly bosses reeling.


Many argue that despite averaging three million viewers, the format has had its day and is a headache C4 chiefs could do without.


BB has been dogged by racism, bullying, fighting, phone vote chaos and death threats.


More than 55,000 complaints were made over the race row involving Jade Goody, 27, and Shilpa Shetty, 33, in the last celebrity version of the show in 2006.


And in BB9, which finished less than a fortnight ago, housemate Alex De-Gale, 23, was removed for making death threats while Dennis McHugh, also 23, was kicked out for spitting in the face of Mo Mohamed, 24.


Producers were dealt another blow when “boring” Welsh girl Rachel Rice, 24, won it this year, starving them of much-needed publicity.


After phone vote problems C4 also declared all profits from voting would be handed to charity, cutting a cash lifeline.


The show, made by Endemol, is contracted to run until 2010 but more scandals could derail the deal.


Ofcom boss Ed Richards forecast a gloomy future for C4 yesterday, saying it was plunging into debt.


The credit crunch had led to advertising drying up and he added: “To break even, Channel 4 would need to cut its investment in public service content year-on-year to 2012.


“We have subjected these projections to close scrutiny and, while we are not as pessimistic as Channel 4, we do believe this annual deficit could amount to between £60m and £100m by 2012.”


Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan, 45, said the funding crisis was a “pressing priority”.

Original Article