BB25: live feeds are back to being free

Some truly surprising news: Instead of killing Big Brother’s live feeds, like Big Brother Canada did this year, CBS is doing the opposite: making them accessible and available to even more people.

Of course, the producers will still probably pull the plug constantly any time there’s something remotely interesting happening and/or an eruption of bigotry, but that’s the charm of Big Brother.

From its first season in the Netherlands, the live feeds have been a core part of Big Brother’s format. They allege to provide an unfiltered, around-the-clock glimpse of the houseguests’ lives and game play.

Over the years, the feeds have allowed viewers to see interactions and strategies that don’t appear in heavily edited television episodes. Thanks to the feeds, we’ve known that producers and/or the network have done everything from erasing a person from a scene to editing out racism.

This actually represents a return to 23 years ago, when the show first premiered in the U.S. In its first season, CBS’s Big Brother offered live feeds for free. This was pre-YouTube, so the very early days of streaming video.

Starting in season two, CBS started charging for the feeds, to make money off the people who wanted to watch their show 24/7.

In 2013, the feeds moved away from RealNetworks SuperPass to CBS.com, and then to CBS All Access, which became Paramount+ in 2020.

Now, in season 25, they’re back to being free—though with some ad breaks. And a paid version will still be available.

Paramount’s Pluto TV—a free, ad-supported streaming platform that resembles cable TV—is adding five Big Brother channels with live feeds.

That will be four individual cameras, and one feed with multiple camera angles, similar to what Paramount+ offers.

The new feed channels will be viewable at pluto.tv/bblf—and on Pluto’s streaming apps—once the feeds begin after Wednesday’s season premiere.

A press release credits this in part to Gran Hermano en vivo streaming on Pluto in Latin America where it “witnessed overwhelming success on the platform” and “quickly earned its place as the number one channel on Pluto TV in both Argentina and Chile.”

Paramount Streaming executive Jeff Grossman said this addition “is a further testament to how the Paramount ecosystem provides fans the best programming wherever and however they choose to stream.” I’m not sure the live feeds are “the best programming,” Jeff, but you do your press release quote.

The press release also acknowledges that, during competitions and when the producers get freaked out, viewers will see “an ‘Animal Cam’ from a local animal shelter.” So get ready for lots of cute animals!

Paramount+ will still have Big Brother’s live feeds, ad-free, and allow people to look back in time at what’s streamed previously. PlutoTV will just stream live with no user control.

If you do decide to upgrade to the ad-free version on Paramount+, may I suggest doing so via friend-of-reality blurred Hamsterwatch? Just click the link in the left-hand column on Hamsterwatch.com.