Viacom casts doubt on future of Channel 5 Big Brother flagship
Channel 5’s new owner Viacom has cast doubt on the future of the station’s flagship ratings winner, Big Brother, after pointing out that ‘no show is popular forever’.
Phillipe Daumann, Viacom’s chief executive, said: “Maybe we continue with Big Brother, maybe if for some reason that didn’t work out we have the ability to put out other great programming,” he said. “What is best direction for Channel 5? You can go too far with one genre even when it’s successful. That is one thing we’ve learned.
“No show is hugely popular forever so you have to keep your fingers in different pots. Big Brother has been a big performer we will leave it to the programming team to see where we go.”
The chin stroking comes as Viacom seeks to ignite a fresh ratings war against schedule neighbour Channel 4 with a pledge to grow Channel 5’s £200m programming budget, with a focus on original commissions.