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Charity Begins At Home For Channel 4

Big Brother broadcaster Channel 4 has made the decision to stop donating a portion of the weekly public vote income to charity.

Since Big Brother 7 the broadcaster has given away some of the revenue derived when fans vote-out Big Brother housemates. Prior to that, the phone lines were run purely for profit.

However, for the past couple of years it claims to have been losing money due to high admin costs, and that, combined with falling advertising revenue due to the current climate, has rather put the kybosh on the Channel's charitable intentions.

To re-iterate, although it's not commonly known, Channel 4 is a public service broadcaster like the BBC. Therefore, it has a duty to use funds wisely, and giving away cash no longer works.

Commenting on the matter a C4 spokesperson said: "Given the current climate... Channel 4 has regretfully decided not to make charity donations for this series of Big Brother in order to limit loss and ensure we are managing our finances optimally, to allow us to continue delivering our public service remit".

Of course, this is a shame for the charities that would have benefited, but as they say, charity begins at home. Also, it's easier to understand the decision when you take into account that shows such as The X Factor, Dancing on Ice and Strictly Come Dancing don't donate any of their phone line revenue to charity.

Calls to the voting lines will cost 35p during Big Brother 10. This is the same amount as last year, when the cost was increased from the previous series' 25p.

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