'24' Season Three

Hi all,

I recently read that the new third season of the hit US drama '24' is not going to be shown on BBC TWO due to the BBC having a fallout with US makers FOX TV. The article also said that Channel 4 or Five were now in the running to show it and that it was quite possible that either channel would consider offering upto £10million to broadcast it.

I was just wondering if this was fact and not fiction and if there were any recent developments with regards as to who is eventually going to show it. Anyonw know anything about this?

It's an interesting situation.

If you'd read the story in the Sun about a week ago you would believe that the BBC had definitely lost the rights to 24 and that it was up for grabs.

However, the BBC have not announced anything, neither have Fox or any other broadcaster.

The way I see it is this- the BBC contract for series 1 and then 2 would have had a clause in to give the BBC preferential first bidding rights to series 3. The row over encryption and just who in Europe can now pick up 24 for free has (I believe) in Fox's view breached this contract and so the BBC no longer have any preferential bidding rights. The Sun read this as "BBC loses 24" but in fact there is nothing to stop the BBC renegotiating a higher price to keep this great series. People who say it'll end up on Sky One are living in a fantasy land- Fox may have a special relationship with Sky, but they're not going to lose out on the money (they're talking $10million- that's over 10% of Sky One's annual budget) to help their little brother.

So that's a very long way of saying "wait and see". I sincerely hope it stays on the BBC- I feel they could fudge the increased payment (without losing face) by agreeing to pay $10million for each of the next two series now (i.e. $20 million for series 3 and 4). That way the BBC can say they didn't pay $10million for this series (i.e. didn't cave in to Fox) because they expected to pay e.g. $13 million for series 4 due to increased popularity, and so only paid $7million this time round.

EDIT: Also seems like BBC and Fox haven't completely fallen out- they're collaberating on a 3-part terrorism drama called "The Grid", loosely based on Spooks...perhaps the money deals for this could help 24 back on the BBC? Details of The Grid are here

Hee hee hee.... i saw Series 3 Episode 1.....TODAY!!! Oh i love the internet. Not going to give anything away, but i'm not sure how much i liked it yet. Seemed just a little bit different from series 1 and 2 - maybe it was just the lack of adverts in this first episode.

(In no way do I condone the use of P2P software)