Big Brother's summer spin

For most hacks, the summer months are a quieter time when politics shuts down and silly season stories take over. But not for TV reporters. The arrival of Big Brother eight long years ago - count em - has meant that the summer is now one of the biggest story battlegrounds, with the start of a new series of the Channel 4 reality show also kicking off the battle of the rival broadcasters' PR machines. Big Brother is now such a lightning rod show that not only is Channel 4 on red alert to promote it in the best possible light, but rival commercial broadcasters' spinners are also out in force to make it look as bad as possible. Ratings are the big battleground, with the different broadcasters racing each other to put their spin on the data. With this year's show being seen as make or break for the format, there are two big potential stories - is Big Brother finally over or has BB9 reinvigorated the format? With only one night of the new series so far, the jury is still out but it's set to be one long hot summer of spin and counter spin in realityTVville.