[Kaz]

After our discussions on THIS thread about how good it would be to have a channel dedicated to Big Brother, I thought you'd be interested to read this article from Media Guardian:

News Corp plans reality TV channel
Ciar Byrne
Tuesday August 6, 2002

It will be a 24-hour monster guaranteed to turn off those who hated Big Brother - a channel dedicated to reality TV shows.

The channel is being considered by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in America.

If it goes ahead, the channel will run non-stop shows such as Fox TV's Temptation Island, in which couples are encouraged to be unfaithful to one another to win prizes.

According to reports in the US, the satellite-delivered cable channel could be available in the UK and other parts of the world within a couple of years, before launching in the US in 2005.

Fox has led the way in downmarket reality programming, most recently adapting Pop Idol for the US. American Idol has pulled in 10 million viewers.

In March Fox stooped to a new low with Celebrity Boxing, where has-beens such as Vanilla Ice and infamous Olympic skater Tonya Harding slugged it out in a boxing ring.

Last year Fox sparked moral outrage with Temptation Island, which tested couples' fidelity by placing male and female partners on separate tropical islands with attractive members of the opposite sex.

The network caused even greater controversy two years ago with Who Wants To Marry A Multimillionaire?, when it emerged the groom's ex-fiancee had once accused him of hitting her and threatening her life

At the time Sandy Grushow, the Fox chairman of entertainment, promised an end to "exploitative entertainment specials".

For a brief period it seemed the death knell had been sounded for Fox "shockumentaries" such as The World's Scariest Police Chases, Plastic Surgery Nightmares and When Good Pets Go Bad.

But the genre proved too seductive for Fox to ignore for long.

"The idea of a reality network has certainly been discussed at Fox, but there's nothing really new on the table and certainly nothing imminent," said a Fox spokesman.

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Seems that the idea we (or should I say steve_o!!) had isn't so far-fetched after all!

I suspect if this channel does eventually happen it will only show American reality programmes, but you never know - it could well come to Britain as well!