- Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:19 pm
#245662
From Broadcast this week
BBC faces fight with Five for Neighbours
Dan Wootton
8:00am
Five is plotting a Ramsay Street raid by trying to snatch Australian soap Neighbours from the BBC after 20 years.
The contract for the BBC1 soap opera is understood to come up for renewal in the middle of next year, when there will be a short window for negotiation. Senior sources at Five indicated it was keen on the show. A deal would give it new episodes from 2008.
Neighbours is made by Grundy and distributed by Fremantle Media. Both companies are owned by RTL, which is also the parent company of Five.
It is believed Five would schedule the show at 6.30pm, where it has struggled to replace axed local soap Family Affairs. It would form an Australian soap zone with Home and Away.
Channel 4 and ITV have ruled out joining a bidding war for the show, but the BBC will have to tread carefully if Five forces up the price. The government white paper on Charter renewal said it should offer licence fee payers "something different from what is available to them from other sources" through its acquired content.
However, the corporation will not want to lose Neighbours, which anchors its early afternoon and evening line-up. This year the soap opera has averaged a share of 38.4% at 1.40pm and 20.2% at 5.35pm.
A BBC spokeswoman said it was "absolutely committed" to Neighbours, but refused to discuss contract details.
That would be spiggin' awful if that happened
Silly Catface