Edemol

The television production company, Edemol. The company are known for producing programmes such as Big brother, and the different versions in different countries. Edemol's most profitable show is "Deal or No Deal" which has now been sold to over 100 countries.

In 2002, the chairman of Edemol Peter Bazalgette said "Don't blame me for what the tabloids write, I think the show has been a great success. I don't know if it is the best yet, but it has got the highest ratings.", after the growing controversy over the exposure of 2002 big brother housemates in the media.

The finale of Big Brother 2002 gave Channel 4 more viewers than both BBC1 and ITV1 for the first time in 19 years history. An average 5.4m viewers watched each night, raking in Pounds 20m profit for Channel 4. A record 8.6m viewers voted in the last week, up from 6.9m the previous year.

Advertising slots during breaks for the Friday's announcement of the winner were sold for up to Pounds 100,000. A new 30million deal strucked after Kate Lawler, a desk administrator from Beckenham won 70,0000 with 3.1million votes, tied Channel 4 and Endemol to Big Brother for a further three summers. (Jane Mulkerrins, Sunday Times, Jul 28, 2002)

Managing director of 4Learning, Heather Rabbatts said: 'If Channel 4 is to make a difference in its education output we needed to find new formats that speak to and connect with the 14-19 generation. (RICHARD PRICE, Daily Mail, Oct 16, 2003)

Channel 4

The UK public service television broadcaster, Channel 4 is a self-funded using commercials instead of using TV license. The channel pays for itself with the use of air-advertising, program sponsorships and sale of their programme contents. The channel has universal coverage around the UK although they are now facing new competition with technology growing with new cable, satellite and digital services.

Channel four is known for its culture diversity by broadcasting different types of social experiments show such as "The Family". Channel four also shows many documentaries such as "Dispatches" that would have a wide audience interests, using their own programme advertisements to their advantage to increase awareness of what day and time the show will be on.

The company has expended since 1982, channel 4 has branched into many other speciallist channels such as 4 Music, which has alot of celebrity appearances which could influence the audiences opinion on song choices. An addition to the main channel, Film four screens famous blockbusters such as "Alien vs Predator". The channel usually has themed nights, showing films based on one director, or actor/actress; this may attract different audiences on different days.

Channel four also launched another channel called E4; the E stands for "entertainment". This channel is different from the main channel as this is aimed at 15-35 age groups. E4 programmes include alot of sitcoms and dramas/soaps; they show alot of US programmes such as Friends, One Tree Hill, Scrubs, 90210 but also British dramas such as Hollyoaks, Skins, Shameless and Misfits. Some of the programmes shown on E4 can be viewed exclusively a week ahead before it airs on the main channel 4.

Im a celebrity vs Big Brother

Recent ratings of I'm a celebrity get me out of here has reached a new record of hitting the 10 million viewer mark on Sunday 22 November. According to unofficial overnight ratings, 10 million people (34% share) were tuning in on ITV from 9-10pm.

The show has received 200,000 viewers more, and the show benefited from being broadcast after X Factor, which peaked at 10.3 million and 36% in the quarter-hour from 9.15pm.

Although Big Brother broadcasts a celebrity version, the hits are not the same as I'm a celebrity. The most recent launch night of celebrity big brother, the night brought in only 3.8 million viewers in comparison to 5.8 million viewers in the previous year. Ratings gradually decreased, becoming as low as 1.2million. Channel 4 faced accusations of conspiracy, accusing the show was a fix after Ulrika Johnson won the show; after speculation that Vern Troyer would be favourite to win.

I'm a celebrity ratings are more popular then celebrity, even though they both include celebrities. I'm a celebrity is notoriously famous for putting celebs in "trials" where they would have to face horrible trials which may contain either eating or drinking creatures of the jungle. The celebrities are flown to the Australian jungle and have to live in "camp"; where they are only allowed to bring one luxury item.

On the other hand, the celebs in Big Brother do not have to face such horrible trials, they are in a Big Brother house and are required to do tasks, but usually only trivia questions are asked. The housemates are given only the basic shopping budget; however in I'm a celeb they live on rice and beans.

The general public ratings are higher then I'm a celebrity that big brother because people enjoy looking at celebrities struggle for food because it might make us feel that we are more fortunate or more wealthy then them because they are stripped of all their usual luxuries. In both programmes, the public get to decide who stays in and who gets voted out; this makes the public get in power and feel like we are dominate and we decide their fate. Also, the viewers find humour in the tasks and vote for the most amusing celebrity to play the task, even though the celebrity might get voted week after week for example Katie Price, when she recently joined the jungle again for a reported £350.000.

Big Brother Failing Ratings

On Wednesday 26th August, Channel 4 officially announced that they will be no longer be broadcasting the reality TV show, Big Brother due to recent failing TV rating, comparing from approximently two million viewers to a previous five million a few ago. The show will be stopped in 2010 after the 11th series and will not be renewing their contract with the producer, Endemol, after a 3 year deal worth £180 million. Critics say that the format has gotten boring and there were no memorable housemates since Jade Goody and "Nasty Nick".



Channel 4 director, Kevin Lygo claimed "Channel 4 has a public remit to champion new forms of creativity, that remit has been an essential part of the weird chemistry behind Big Brother's success, but it's now what is telling us that the programme has reached a natural end point on Channel 4." Edemol has comfirmed that other broadcasters will not be taking the reality show on, but has been discussing taking the series online instead. Tim Hincks, the chief executive of Endemol UK, said: "Big Brother has revolutionised television in many ways, and we need to think about how to revolutionise the Internet."

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The public had a mixture of reactions to the show ending; the winner of the first series in 2000, Craig Philips said "initially, i felt sad but thought it was the time for the show to end. I do think it's right and I'm sort of pleased in a little way. People are a little exhausted with it. I do think it has sort of had its day. They can't really change the format and the types of personality have got freakier."

However, the previous year's winner Rachel Rice announced that she was "gutted" to hear the show has been axed. she also said in another interview, "I just hope - and I'm sure - they will bring it back in a few years' time. If not, I think another channel will probably buy it. It's a shame, being a fan of the show I'm disappointed. Every summer I watch Big Brother."

Big bother is seen as a platform to become famous. The winner's tend to not have any unique talent. "Channel 4 has kept BB going because it brings in money from calls and advertising, making it the channel's biggest earner. But this financial gain must now be weighed against the damage BB does to the channel's reputation." Sunday Times. London July 15 2007 pg. 14

Jade Goody Scandele

Jade goody was originally a dental nurse from south London, she come from a tough background; her mother had been in a motorbike accident so she relied on Jade care and a father who served time in prison. She found fame when she appeared on big brother in 2003; her life changed dramatically even though she did not win, she was ridiculed by the press with headlines saying she had poor general knowledge and she was an embarrassing joke.
However after her eviction from the house, she slowly built up her celebrity image doing reality TV shows and getting married to Jeff Brazier (a reality TV presenter) with two sons.

The celebrity received intense press criticism when she decided to return into the celebrity big brother house. Her very public argument with Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty hit the headlines saying she was racist because she labeled the actress "Shilpa Poppadom". She was voted out with approximately 83% of the public vote, and according to over night ratings, almost nine million people tuned in to watch her interview with big brother's host, Devina McCall; which she was shocked whilst looking at the clips that were shown and claimed "I am not a racist, but i can see why it has had the impact it had."

The heated debate was a subject in the house of Commons and a huge public debate back in India; which led to street protests in India. Her behaviour caused 40,000 complaints, which was a major crisis for the broadcaster Channel four, which lead to Car phone Warehouse diminishing their sponsorship for big brother.




Jade Goody was booked with interviews from the press and TV, in India and the UK, trying to explain herself and apologising for her actions numerous times about the words that came out of her mouth. Although she has made many public apologise, her perfumes was still withdrawed from shelves in stores and her reality TV show got canceled as a result of this controversy.

A year later, she took up an offer of £100,000 for appearing in India's version of celebrity big brother called "Big Boss" with intentions of clearing her name and prove she was not a racist. She flew to Mumbai on 14th of August but withdrawed very early in the show after she found out she was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer.

The public's opinion softened as the news spread around the world, with the priminister Gorden Brown saying he was "deeply saddened" about the tragic news that she died on mothers day in the early hours of the morning in her sleep. She has helped thousands of women in raising awareness of cervical cancer all over the united kingdom.

I have found a helpful website of an interview Jade Goody has done about the scandal: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/15623/Jade-Goody-admits-It-was-racist-I-am-a-bully.html

Celebrity Big Brother

Celebrity Big brother started with BBC's Comic relief charity, with celebrities volunteering to do the show for charity, but it received such high ratings so there is now a celebrity big brother every year in the UK, typically airing during the January/February months. The celebrities are normally paid for their appearances, on the provision that they don't voluntarily leave. Usually the celebrity version only goes on for 2-3 weeks; much shorter the the average normal big brother. Some of the celebs that are placed in the house are faded celebrities who are no longer in the limelight; big brother is a way used as a stepping stone in order to gain publicity again.

This version of the show brings in more audiences because of its celebrity twist. It allows people at home to watch celebrities different personalities and how they really act and see them go through different tasks to be able to win food or prizes for the house. There are various reasons why the public find celebrity big brother appealing, the media portrays celebrities lives much more exciting then our own lives so it can give us a form of aspiration because we want to be like them.

I believe Celebrity Big brother has become so successful because people like to identify with the celebrities. People like to watch celebrities because it is believed that their lives might be more exciting, some might say that the fans are fascinated by the talent, beauty and money; celebrities are often living the life we would want to live.

Global scale of Big Brother

The idea of Big brother was developed by John de Mol,
the first ever Big Brother started in the Netherlands in 1999.
It was a basic concept which was introduced to 22 other countries such as Belgium, Brazil, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland and many more, including the United Kingdom, of course.

The Big Brother house's rules varies depending on the country, for example in the Belgium's big brother house, it started of with eleven men and one women who had to nominate 3 men, which was then passed on to the viewing public and the person with the most votes was evicted. However, in the United States, the viewers are not able to control the voting. Many of other big brothers around the world are almost mainly uncensored; however CBS would not allow that.

Big Brothers rules also changed with different religions in the different country's, such as Thailand once had an actual elephant inside the big brother house for the housemates to feed, wash and maintain. In the early days of big brother in the UK, the house also had animals such as pigs and chickens to look after.

Occasionally, there is a twist added in by swapping a contestant out with another contestant to Big Brother in a different country. Most Big Brother series last for about 1-3 months, depending on the television schedules in different countries.

Even though there are many countries that participate, they are nearly all called “Big Brother” in one language or another; however the French versions from Canada and France are called Loft Story. Both of these versions feature a winning couple, instead of the normal single winner.