MTV UK will broadcast repeats of Celebrity Big Brother when the reality show returns for its eighth series on terrestrial broadcaster Channel 5 on Wednesday evening.
The pay-TV channel will show an edited version of each Channel 5 Celebrity Big Brother daily evening highlights show the following day, at 2pm and 7pm on weekdays and 6pm only at weekends.
This move is the latest example of closer cooperation between MTV and Channel 5, which was bought by the music and youth culture brand’s parent company Viacom in a £450m deal with Richard Desmond last year.
The arrangement will begin with an edited MTV repeat of Wednesday night’s two-hour launch show, which according to various reports could feature Patsy Kensit, Katie Hopkins and Perez Hilton.
In November, Channel 5 aired MTV’s music awards show, the EMAs, for the first time, helping to deliver a record UK TV audience for the event.
Channel 5 and Viacom have also jointly commissioned the reality series 10,000BC, which is scheduled to air on the terrestrial network and MTV UK.
Celebrity Big Brother’s seventh series averaged 2.2 million viewers and a 10% share, rising to 16% amongst young women. Big Brother, produced by Endemol, switched from its long-term UK home Channel 4 to Channel 5 in 2011.
