[zakman440]

Neighbours, Catfish: The TV Show, Gotham and Celebrity Big Brother are among the high-profile shows set to benefit from Viacom International Media Networks’ purchase of Channel 5.

The US giant has quickly drawn up plans to move content around its portfolio of pay and free-to-air channels, and to exploit the cross-promotion opportunities that have been created by the £450m deal.

Early plans include C5’s Australian soaps Neighbours and Home And Away being repeated in omnibuses on free-to-air music and entertainment channel Viva. The channel’s current shows include Scrubs and The Inbetweeners USA.

One of the formats that C5 will get in return is the first series of MTV hit Catfish: The TV Show, which will air on one of the terrestrial broadcaster’s digital channels.

The US format is based on a documentary film of the same name and investigates online relationships with questions over the identity of one of the parties.

MTV UK asked Renegade Pictures to pilot a UK version of the show last year, but it was not commissioned for a full series after casting difficulties.

The channel has also begun to trail Gotham, the much-anticipated Batman prequel that C5 acquired from Warner Bros International Television Distribution in August. The drama will premiere later this month.

It is also expected that MTV News will continue to carry items on high-profi le C5 shows, such as Celebrity Big Brother. C5 content is being plugged across other Viacom channels and it is likely the terrestrial broadcaster will reciprocate when brands such as Geordie Shore debut.

Another show that could be played on C5 is MTV’s Ex On The Beach. The Whizz Kid Entertainment dating format, which sends participants on a luxury beach break and then parachutes in their former lovers, will not make the move over to C5 as quickly as Catfish because of MTV’s exclusivity arrangements with Sky.

The thinking behind the strategy is that Viacom will use its extended channel portfolio to wring value out of content.

Last month, Broadcast reported plans to co-commission across MTV and C5, when the two channels announced The Garden’s immersive reality format 10,000 BC as their first shared project.

The show, which is produced in association with GroupM Entertainment, will follow 20 men and women as they give up modern comforts to live in a Stone Age-style community. It will air as a 10 x 60-minute series on C5 and a 5 x 60-minute series on MTV.

Nickelodeon is also linking up with C5’s pre-school block Milkshake! on animated series Nella The Knight, while Comedy Central plans to co-develop projects with C5 in the future.

Separately, Viacom president and chief executive Philippe Dauman is poised to visit the UK next week, when he will share his strategy for C5 at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadc...ontentID=42816

Exciting, but I wonder what it might mean for BBBOTS.