Big Brother fans storm Twitter over Live Feed Axe

The biggest controversy of Nine’s Big Brother may well be the lack of live feed, with hundreds of fans already taking to Twitter to condemn the lack of viewing platforms.

Once an integral part of the Big Brother phenomenon, Nine have opted out of a 24-hour live feed; replacing it with a Twitter feed of updates, typed at 15 minute intervals throughout the day.

The move to axe the live streaming follows the decision by Big Brother UK broadcaster, Channel 5, to halt streaming for their series.

Since the relaunch of Big Brother was announced, it was clear the show was to be made at a decreased budget, something fans weren’t too fussed about. However, now the show is on and the viewers know exactly how much they’re going to get to watch of the show a day, many viewers are displeased.

Twitter user @joshuaTM is one of the Twitter users unhappy at the idea of the lack of live feed.

‘#BBAU wish there was a live feed online, rather then this shit blog posts.’ he says in one such Tweet, ‘blog posts’ referring to the Big Brother Twitter Updates.

As a fan of the show, I’ve never watched nor cared about the live feeds, nor do I think they make or break the show. Executive Producer Alex Mavroidakis has since clarified that a live feed is ‘too expensive’, which is fair enough.

But with so much backlash, maybe some sort of compromise is needed. Twitter fans have stated that without a live feed, the show should still at least air an Up Late component.

‘@bbau9 @AlexMavroidakis @mikeygold since there is no live feed for #bbau yet you need to bring back Uplate. There needs to be more on offer!’ says Twitter user @KangarooDuck.

Big Brother UpLate used to provide a few hours of late night television live streaming. If they can’t afford 24-hour live streaming; is it possible they could at least afford to air a few hours a day?

Housemates are most active in the afternoons and at night; so live streaming for a couple of hours here and there may help the show give viewers an alternative look into the Big Brother house.

Loving Big Brother so far; but something HAS to be done.

Big Brother continues tonight at 7PM on Nine.

 

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Hey guy's,
If you've stumbled across here, I'm assuming you are as big a fan of reality television as I am! I reported for Throng Australia as their resident Reality Television Commentator from May 2011 to January 2013. I will continue to provide Top 20 Reality Television Star lists for 2013. I'm currently covering the upcoming season of Big Brother on Big Brother 24/7!
I hope you enjoy and if you have anything to say; comments, complaints, praise or whatnot, drop me a PM or comment on the story of interest to you.
Courtney xx
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  • Loz

    I’m sorry if 2dayfm can have a live feed of their push the button thing in parra then ch9 can have a live feed of the bb house. I always watched the live feed and find it weird now that I can’t go online to watch.
    I am loving it so far too but something does need to be done about this issue.

  • http://www.facebook.com/mikiglat Miki Glat

    Here is a post by someone on a BB forum – could very well be true ”
    Here is the bad news – the rules have changed so much since BB last aired in 2008. Online streaming is now as heavily regulated as television – The BB crews would need a team of 50-odd moderators all fully trained in classification to work 24/7 – and their job would be to cut away from pretty much everything interesting. It would be very expensive. It’s a no-brainer – the only call was to put extra resources into online videos and live updates (which will kick into life after the last HM enters). Yes its disappointing there is no live feed but, we can live without” Personally it doesn’t phase me cause I never watched live feed although I did used to tune in to Uplate – must admit the live shows have not really shown us much of the housemates – they keep switching back and forth to Sonia so many times I’m confused! LOL!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003368455102 Courtney Lewdon

      Thanks Miki; very interesting. All of that would make perfect sense. As a nation, we’ve gone classification mad. I find it a shame that fans of the show ridicule the program for not having a live feed without considering these factors.

      I don’t get the whole ‘I don’t want to see what Nine shows us’ mentality. I get why people may want to watch more than just the highlights package (barely), but Nine control the live feeds as well and, really, a television network that has to manage hundreds of programs daily, management, finance and operations is hardly going to be interested in manipulating Big Brother for the sake of getting a particular housemate to look popular/unpopular.

      Really, if there was Live Feed, the fans would just find another thing about the show to bag and criticise. It’s funny how in the past fans wanted to deviate away from the blonde and bronzed beauties and have more intellectual people in the house. Now we seem to have that, fans are criticising the show for NOT having superficial housemates. I honestly don’t get it.

      How about we all watch Big Brother the way THE MAJORITY OF AUSTRALIANS used to- sit down, watch the daily show, enjoy the fact Big Brother is on air, and shut the hell up!

      • http://www.facebook.com/mikiglat Miki Glat

        You’re so right Courtney – people will always find reasons to critacize. Yes! I agree with your last statement. I mean, live feeds weren’t available when it originally aired from recollection. Do you know when they started live feed? Although I do have to admit that they are showing more of Sonia than the actual contestants at the moment. That’s the only thing that annoys me.

        • Loz

          I don’t remember when live feeds started, I don’t think it was season one but whatever season it was they had it for at least a few or so years. I still think they should have it as it gives us a more in depth view of the housemates as they are as the edited version on tv could be that anything happened and they might make it to something else. If ten could do it then I still don’t see why 9 can’t. I get that its expensive and all that but its still doable. And I’m very happy with the housemates, just wish I could see more of them…. but hopefully that will change after these special shows are over and they go back to normal daily format.

          • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003368455102 Courtney Lewdon

            Big Brother had a live feed for all of its seasons 2001-2008. But the live feed was never the centre of the show back in 2001. I don’t think the quality was that good. People were content on just watching the evening daily show and this was enough to ‘get to know’ the housemates. It still is enough now, but people like to say it isn’t to give them a reason to moan.

  • mycreations

    ill watch it either way but bring back uplate!!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003368455102 Courtney Lewdon

      Other than editing a bit more cleanly, yes, this would be the only other thing that would make Big Brother better.

  • Matthew

    Good to see the fans speaking out without the Live Feed Big Brother is just not the same. Channel Nine need to bring it back but I doubt they will.

  • Ryno_091

    ok i can understand the appeal of a live feed i want however im gonna try and aproach this logicly if we get one seriously how much would pepole actually use it pepole lead such busy lives whould it justify the cost i dont think so
    however if there was a big thing happening in the house like last night it should have been covered live but i guess bb back on air is better then none at all imo be greatful that its back