American cable network CBS and RealNetworks have joined forces once again to provide exclusive, 24/7 live video streaming from the Big Brother 3 house.
The webcast, which premieres today can be ordered through the official Big Brother 3 website at http://www.CBS.com and through RealNetworks' RealOne(TM) SuperPass subscription service. The live webcast, featuring four live camera feeds, will be available only as a subscription service. To view webcasts, consumers will need the RealOne Player, available for download at http://www.real.com. RealNetworks now claims to have more than 700,000 paid monthly subscribers to its premium subscription services.
Big Brother 3 is a reality show on CBS, currently running its third season on the network, in which twelve strangers living together in one house try and vote each other out until only one remains and goes home half a million dollars richer. Meanwhile, the viewers are watching every move. Viewers get to rate them in the Love 'Em or Leave 'Em poll, then go to the Grand Prize poll to cast the first vote for the HouseGuest most likely to win the half million.
CBS claims that last year's launch of the innovative video streaming package had over 50,000 viewers subscribing to the streams. CBS/Endemol Entertainment will provide the content from the Big Brother 3 house while Real Broadcast Network(TM) (RBN(TM)), RealNetworks' Content Delivery Network division, will deliver the 24/7 live streaming webcast feed. To preserve the drama for Big Brother 3 television viewers, CBS may block or delay the webcast for a limited number of real-time events that transpire in the house.
Other components of the official Big Brother 3 website will include detailed summaries of all the events that happen during each televised broadcast, a live 24/7 chat room, an interactive Big Brother Fantasy League game, popularity polls, opinion polls and a virtual tour of the Big Brother house, descriptions of the week's challenges, voting history pages, photo galleries and a HouseGuest section with complete profiles.
