Big Brother 2 goes wireless
Published: 26 Feb 2001 16:01 GMT
The second installment of last summer's voyeuristic experiment is set to break new ground. When it airs this June, Big Brother 2 will offer its live content feeds over WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), SMS, PDAs and interactive television as well as the Internet and terrestrial TV.
"We're dedicating a much longer development time to Big Brother 2, as the idea is that it will be available on all wireless platforms," said Morgan Holt, editor of Big Brother. "We will be working with Victoria Real again for the video streaming, but most of the technical arrangements are still to be finalised," he added.
The Internet phenomenon was Europe's number one Web site in August after receiving 3.5 million page impressions in one day. UK businesses around the country were reported to be banning employees from accessing the Channel Four site after live footage streamed to fast corporate machines was found to be costing them £30,000 a day in lost productivity.
The famous Big Brother house kitted out with the latest surveillance technology will be located on the same area of real estate and receive a complete redesign. All areas of the house will once again be fitted with Webcams so that viewers can log onto the Web site at any time and observe the contestants' every move.
Britain's voyeurs will receive a quick-fix in March with a week long celebrity Big Brother in aid of this year's Red Nose Day. There will however be no cameras in the toilet or shower (which could be a blessing in disguise depending on who the celebrities are), but five Sony broadcast cameras will follow participants from behind one-way glass soundproof runs within the house, in addition to 20 remotely controlled Webcams. Over 30 microphones will also provide complete audio coverage, with 35 monitors being watched by a 24-hour production team.
The Comic Relief Web site, located at www.comicrelief.com, will not broadcast 24 hour streaming, as a technical operation on the scale of the original Big Brother would be too prohibitive for such a short project. Regular updates will however be written about what the celebrities are up to in the house.
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