Channel 4 To Halve Cost Of Big Brother Eviction Votes

Channel 4 has announced that it is halving the cost of eviction voting on Big Brother from 50p to just 25p. The reduction means Channel 4 will not be making any profit from the voting on the eighth series of the programme, which begins on 30th May.

The reduced 25p charge will cover all the costs to Channel 4 of administering the eviction votes and includes a 10p donation to charity for each vote cast.

In previous series of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother calls were charged at 50p and Channel 4 retained a profit from each call after administration costs and the 10p charity donation had been deducted from the cost of each call.

The new 25p charge applies to calls from BT lines; calls from other fixed networks and mobile networks may vary at the operators’ discretion.

Channel 4 will no longer be offering viewers the option of voting to evict via text message (SMS) during the upcoming series of Big Brother. This is because the mobile phone operators cannot process the votes within a time frame suitable for the voting procedures on the programme.

Announcing the changes, Channel 4 Managing Director New Media, Andy Taylor, said: “The voting has been fair and transparent throughout Big Brother’s eight years on air, but given the recent focus on the use of premium rate phone lines on TV we want to ensure the audience has absolute confidence in the evictions, which are absolutely integral to the show’s success. Cutting the cost of phone votes will hopefully encourage the highest possible number of our viewers to interact with the programme.”

As with all the channel’s current PRTS voting services the voting process will be monitored by an external law firm.