Not So Big Brother without a Live Stream

Celebrity Big Brother is underway for another year on Channel 5, with another eclectic mix of only-just celebrities in the Borehamwood house.

I haven’t watched Big Brother since the first few series in the early 2000’s, and the only reason that I’ve been drawn to this series, is because of one contestant.

I have always had an interest in the story of the collapse of Barings Bank, and the actions of a “rogue trader” in Singapore. So imagine my delight when I hear the news that the very man who broke a bank – Nick Leeson – would be in the big brother house!

On the face of it, from the early 2000’s when I first watched Big Brother, to this current series of Celebrity Big Brother, not a lot has changed. Other than the asthetic layout of the house, the basic principles are the same, and that’s a good thing.

One major factor however, astonishes me.

When the first series of Big Brother aired, the country was captivated by being able to dip in and out of the house, live, through a 24 hour stream (albeit with a short delay) on E4.

Those who did watch the live stream, will fondly remember the sound being cut to bird-song, the sound of aeroplanes flying overhead, and hour after hour of watching folks sunbathing and sleeping.

Now, I haven’t bothered with Big Brother since the early 2000’s, mainly because of work and real life. But because of Nick Leeson’s inclusion in this series of CBB, I decided to roll back the clock and have a bash at watching it.

Where is the live stream? I scoured my TV Guide, I trawled the internet, I emailed Endemol.

To my suprise, I have since discovered that there hasn’t been a 24 hour live stream for quite some time now.

So what’s the point then? It’s not really Big Brother in the sense of being watched 24 hours a day, when we have regressed from the public being able to see it.

There’s also no real excuse from Channel 5 either. Even if thery didn’t want to hand over one of their many linear channels to a continuous live stream, modern technology more than allows for continuous streaming over the internet or interactive applications both on television and via apps on phones and devices.

Infact, I’d go so far as to say that instead of regression, and limiting coverage to an edited hour per night – with interative applications and internet streaming, viewers should be able to chose which camera that they want to view and the associated audio which goes with it. That would open up more possibilities and remove the need for profanity delays and editing – viewers would have to accept a disclaimer before viewing the streams.

Obviously, a cracking idea right there that has sadly been missed by Endomol and Channel 5. Oh well.