Big Brother is going back live in a big way for the final series launching next month.
Bosses at Channel 4 have backed down after the storm of protest from diehard fans when the 24-hour feed was axed.
It is understood they are close to signing a deal to reinstate the popular live streaming that caught housemates with their pants down…sometimes literally.
Under the new plan, there could be up to three hours of live action on E4 in the afternoons, then more in the evenings and into the early hours.
Jason Dashwood, who runs bigbrotheronline.co.uk, said: “The thing we’d all like to have back is the ‘red button’ facility which allowed us feed 24 hours a day.
“I doubt we will get that but, if they start the live streaming earlier in the evening, it would give us better footage to watch than at midnight, when the housemates were in bed most of the time.”
Fans were left fuming last year when Channel 4 chiefs said it was “too costly’’ to keep the live streaming and that it never drew big ratings on digital channel E4.
Devotees mounted a campaign urging people to boycott the show in protest.
They claimed that, without the live streaming, the series – won by model Sophie Reade – could be edited any way show bosses wanted.
And they argued that controversial events such as the infamous “Fight Night”, involving Victor Ebuwa and Emma Greenwood in 2004, could be censored.
There were just seven hours of streaming from the spy-eye house last year. And this began at around midnight when most of the wannabes were asleep.
During Celebrity Big Brother in January, fans could access two hours of streaming from the house in the afternoon and then nine hours overnight.
Channel 4 also had its own Twitter giving up-to-the-minute news on what was happening in the house.
And it uploaded dozens of clips of housemate action on its official website throughout the day.
Bosses at Channel 4 have backed down after the storm of protest from diehard fans when the 24-hour feed was axed.
It is understood they are close to signing a deal to reinstate the popular live streaming that caught housemates with their pants down…sometimes literally.
Under the new plan, there could be up to three hours of live action on E4 in the afternoons, then more in the evenings and into the early hours.
Jason Dashwood, who runs bigbrotheronline.co.uk, said: “The thing we’d all like to have back is the ‘red button’ facility which allowed us feed 24 hours a day.
“I doubt we will get that but, if they start the live streaming earlier in the evening, it would give us better footage to watch than at midnight, when the housemates were in bed most of the time.”
Fans were left fuming last year when Channel 4 chiefs said it was “too costly’’ to keep the live streaming and that it never drew big ratings on digital channel E4.
Devotees mounted a campaign urging people to boycott the show in protest.
They claimed that, without the live streaming, the series – won by model Sophie Reade – could be edited any way show bosses wanted.
And they argued that controversial events such as the infamous “Fight Night”, involving Victor Ebuwa and Emma Greenwood in 2004, could be censored.
There were just seven hours of streaming from the spy-eye house last year. And this began at around midnight when most of the wannabes were asleep.
During Celebrity Big Brother in January, fans could access two hours of streaming from the house in the afternoon and then nine hours overnight.
Channel 4 also had its own Twitter giving up-to-the-minute news on what was happening in the house.
And it uploaded dozens of clips of housemate action on its official website throughout the day.
