Rumor Control: British “Deal or No Deal” Gone from Channel 4 in a Year?
Interesting news from The Daily Mail in England. I’m sure one of our readers from England can tell us exactly how believable they are since I haven’t heard much positive response to this but it seems rather official given the quotes. It looks like the British version of Deal or No Deal, which our daytime version is modeled after (and yet we still messed it up for the most part somehow), may be on its way out the door whenever the contract is up in 2011. What’s the reason? The same thing that nearly had the US daytime version gone after the first season and what may hurt the a third season: production costs.
According to The Daily Mail, Deal or No Deal costs £100,000 to make an episode. That breaks down to £80,000 for production and £20,000 for Noel. To put that in perspective our daytime version is quite a bit more than that last I heard. The last I heard from the primetime edition had figures in the millions-of-dollars range which is why that left so abruptly. Channel 4, the network that airs the show, wants to slash the budget which may include some form of a shift in the game play or lowering the amount of money that can be won. But the general idea is that Endemol and the show think this will only hurt the program, which it will, and they are looking elsewhere. Supposedly BBC and Sky have interest in picking up the hit game. The show is still averaging around 1.8 million viewers each episode.
So again if we can get any sort of validation from our British readers that would be fantastic, but it sounds interesting. I’d have to imagine that another network would want to quickly pick this up given that it’s still pretty popular, right? The British edition of Deal or No Deal kicks the crap out of our version because they create a story with each contestant. We get to know them and the game becomes personal. It’s not like our version which is a very nice show to TiVo through at the most at this point. But a pretty interesting development. We’ll keep following it.
Channel 4 in the UK are slashing budgets across the board. So this seems to have more than a ring of truth to it. The secret of good television nowadays is to come up with a cheap format – That doesn't look cheap. And so many are getting it so wrong, so often.
This is where talent should, and WILL succeed.
I hope.
Let's assume that 2011 is the "last" year on Channel 4. If it moves to Sky, will Noel keep his job if it does that? If so, he may have to renegotiate his contract before that happens
As for the Brittish version of DoND, it does put our version to shame for the most part. The thing that bothers me about the syndie season is no acknowledgement of its move to Conneticutt at all & no tweaks whatsoever. I don't see a Season 3 unless the ratings turn around soon.
Ain't gonna happen. This kind of story always crops up whenever contracts are up for renewal (qv: Tarrant's bi-annual "I'm going to stop doing Millionaire this year" and "ITV are poised to pounce for Big Brother" from 2 years ago).
No way on earth BBC will take it for anything like that kind of money when Eggheads is probably 1/3 of that budget, and it would be too commercial for them anyway. Given that the show gets sponsorship from the likes of gaming websites, ITV would be the only likely home for it.
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
If it's going anywhere, it's to ITV, who I believe made an offer for the rights in 2006 which Channel 4 rebuffed; ITV's response was to commission For The Rest Of Your Life, and, er, oh. It's not remotely a BBC show, and I can't see it going to Sky.
With Big Brother going in 2010, Channel 4 might simply be trying to cut ties with Endemol.
The Mail's a crazy pseudo-intellectual conservative tabloid, though. If they say it, it probably means it's false. :) Several other articles refer to the rumour but every single one is sourced from the Mail.
That said, let's get this straight. The average prize given away per show is about £16,000. Replacing the quarter-million with £2,000 – the most radical change I could see them making, budget-wise – would reduce that to just under £10k assuming a similar average win as a percentage of the starting mean, and with the more stable board and lower stakes that's a highly questionable assumption. I can't see them saving more than £5,000 per show from prize tree changes.
Noel, on the other hand, is on £20,000 per show according to this. Doing the math(s) – which is more than contestants on DoND do under his influence – the contract he signed in 2006 was £3m for 18 months, and the show averages 290 episodes per year (the recent 4th birthday edition was episode #1159). That doesn't even come to £10,000 per show, much less £20,000. On the other hand, I don't doubt you could save up to £5,000 a show with a cheaper host who could still do a job – indeed, I reckon there are plenty who could do a better (or at least more even-handed) job than Noel.
I don't see how on earth the show can cost £80,000 per show to produce either. The prize fund can now – after this many episodes – be reasonably estimated at £15k per show, give or take. I'm not nearly as knowledgable about production costs as some of you guys, but… £65k for each of three shows a day? That comes to over $300,000 for a taping day. It's not even got a flashy set!
The only thing I can see heavilly influencing the budget that they may be able to change is the room and board for 22 people … perhaps move them closer to the set to cut down on transportation costs?
Perhaps change the number of boxes, hence contestants… however if you keep the top prize money the same, that will isntatly increase the average won.
A change in the top prize money will kill the show- the $250,000 (and the penny, for that matter) is as closely related to the show as Noel is. Its like ITV creating changes to make "Who Wants To Be A Hundred-Thousand-aire?"
Cutting Noel's salary, reducing contestant care costs, and changing the first five red amounts will certainly slash costs. Will it be enough? I agree with David: probably not.
I don't see where budgeting would be a problem for Britain's DOND. The show seems pretty low key compared to our version here in the states.
Its very low key compared to here, but it just all comes down to numbers: you can't spend what you don't have. Unless sponsorship and advertizing revenues suddenly increase for Channel 4- they won't be able to pull off DOND, or many other shows, for that matter
Since you dont' have a thread for it, more rumor control: GSN Radio is likely on the way out. Some of the posts on the GSN forum are reliable, and it looks like this Friday is it.
I don't know about you, but i don't like the British deal.
I don't know about you, but i don't like the British deal.