Virgin Media looks to take up Big Brother sponsorship

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 16-Mar-07, 11:25

LONDON - Virgin Media is in preliminary discussions to sponsor several television properties and is understood to be in talks for the sponsorship of Channel 4's 'Big Brother'.

The deal that could involve it distributing exclusive show content on demand, via its cable TV or mobile service.

Channel 4 is currently looking for a sponsor for the eighth series of 'Big Brother', which will begin in either May or June.

Last week Carphone Warehouse decided to end its £3m per year sponsorship of the programme and its celebrity spin-off.

It suspended the sponsorship during the latest series of 'Celebrity Big Brother' over concerns about comments, widely seen as racist bullying, directed at Indian contestant Shilpa Shetty by some of the other housemates.

Yesterday, mobile network Orange ruled itself out of the running to take over the sponsorship after consulting with its 12,000 employees on whether or not it should be associated with the show.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman refused to confirm or deny the talks, saying: "We have been approached by several leading brands since CPW didn't renew their sponsorship of 'Big Brother' and we are currently still in discussions.

"As with all commercial negotiations, we do not comment on the parties involved or the stage that the discussions are at but we hope to announce the new sponsor in due course".

A spokeswoman for Virgin Media said: "We are always in discussions with third parties regarding mutually beneficial partnerships. These are ongoing, all year long and span many different types of activities. We never comment on who these discussions are with, or the stage at which they are at, as the majority are merely exploratory conversations. A number come to fruition and, as and when they do, we announce them."