Virgin to sponsor Big Brother 8

"Big Brother gives us the opportunity to promote our content across a
number of platforms, and that's why we are doing it. This is not a
one-off publicity stunt."

Virgin Media will promote its Virgin Mobile brand through the
multichannel sponsorship. It replaces the Carphone Warehouse, which
pulled out of the reality TV show earlier this month after three years
of sponsorship, as previously reported in Campaign (9 March). The
decision came after the racism row that tainted Celebrity Big Brother in
February.

Kydd said Virgin Media was satisfied that Channel 4 and Endemol had
suitable structures in place to avoid a repeat of the furore that hit
Celebrity Big Brother, and would ensure the right people were in place
to handle the live programme.

He added: "We considered all of the controversy that surrounded
Celebrity Big Brother and we clearly had a reason to think twice, but we
had a long chat with Channel 4 and we are convinced. Big Brother makes
up 9 per cent of Channel 4's total revenue, so it is vital that it gets
it right."

The Virgin brand has never shied away from controversy, and Virgin Media
maintains its sponsorship is a marketing "bullseye".

Kydd said: "Big Brother has always come under the spotlight and courted
a lot of attention. Virgin is known for facing challenges head on; we
know our customers enjoy Big Brother because it's the most unpredictable
and exciting TV programme there is."

David Charlesworth, the head of sponsorship at Channel 4, said: "We
share so much with Virgin in terms of brand and business and look
forward to creating a ground-breaking sponsorship."

The sponsorship package includes branding and advertising opportunities
across TV, video-on-demand, online, radio and mobile. Previous sponsors
of Big Brother have included BT Broadband.

- Comment, page 36.