Big Brother Digital Confirmed For Fall 2016 Online

CBS has made it official with a formal announcement. Big Brother Over The Top will air this fall, as we previously discussed, and it will be entirely online through All Access, just like I told you to expect.

Julie Chen hosts Big Brother

If you can’t get enough BB then you’re in luck because we’re about to get more Big Brother in 2016 while Big Brother 19 will air next summer after the current season of Big Brother 18.

When the new season of Big Brother Over The Top debuts in a few weeks, good grief I can’t believe I just typed those words, it will air entirely online through CBS All Access. This is the same sort of approach the network is taking with their new Star Trek series which made the move completely believable to me when the rumors started the other week.

This online version of Big Brother will run only ten weeks, as compared to the summer season’s ever growing duration of 12-13 weeks, which means we’ll could either expect fewer Houseguests or less of these returning HG twists. Either way could be a good thing as something different.

We don’t know how much Julie Chen will be involved and that’s a big question mark for me. Without live shows on broadcast I might expect them to try and cut costs and I imagine Julie doesn’t come cheap, but would the show be Big Brother without her hosting?

CBS has released a statement saying the new seasons will start “soon after the latest winner is crowned” as a “new digital edition of the series.” As for the team involved, Big Brother will have its regular production crew back and “Big Brother host Julie Chen will also be part of the digital edition.” Julie would probably be the host, but since it was vaguely worded we’ll have to wait and make sure.

There are so many questions, but for right now we can expect Big Brother Over The Top to be held fall 2016 and move to entirely online through CBS All Access. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and get our Email Updates for further updates on this news. You can always download our Big Brother app as well for even more coverage.

If you’re concerned that you’ll have to watch BBOTT episodes on your computer then you’ll be happy to hear it’s actually really easy to watch All Access on your TV and you probably already have a device that will let you do that. More details on how to watch All Access on your TV.

Want to be part of the Big Brother cast? They’re actively casting for BBOTT so get over there, submit your application, and see what happens. Best of luck!

Update: Article revised to note CBS has released a formal statement confirming BBOTT on All Access.

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164 Comments

    • Guess I will be keeping mine also :) Bet a good portion of all access subscribers are people that watch the BB feeds so pretty smart move by CBS actually.

      • Not necessarily because not everyone watches the feed that’s why they came out with BB After Dark.

      • I bet a good portion of all access subscribers get it for the feeds. Not saying that is necessarily a huge chunk of the audience of BB but my guess a large potion of all access subscribers. I bet they see memberships spike during BB and drop when it is over.

  1. OMG I’m so excited! Hopefully they decide it’s smart to cast mostly superfans that don’t think of this experience as summer camp and actually want to win!

    • Did your eyes roll out of your face as you typed that? Have you seen how atrocious the casting has been in recent years as far as summer campers?

      • While there’s no denying that, I’m always holding out hope every preseason that production will return to it’s roots of casting people that want to win, not people that are there to “have fun” in jury or “have fun” in summer camp. When everyone else was complaining about the cast back in mid June, I was holding out hope of the potential. Now with it being week 6 and having given this season a chance, I would agree that it is fair to say this season is mediocre, at best. Still, it’s already best to ahve a hopeful and optimistic outlook on anything in life, not just a reality show. Sure, I might (probably) will be let down by production AGAIN, but that’s okay. I’m keeping a positive attitude about this.

      • Not to mention this season had, and still has, theeee most annoying fem. voices I’ve ever heard. (I’m not trying to be a horrible person but..) Its unbelievable! Now Michelle is on that list for me with her ridiculous crying. (Especially when she left that mark on Paul…hahahaha) Hormones??? Wth???

    • I don’t think we have to worry about summer campers. BUT LOOK OUT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO THINK IT’S AUTUMN CAMP!!!!

    • I’m hoping the casting process is so fast that they don’t have time to pick through it to find the most vapid idiots possible

    • THAT could actually work! I couldn’t seriously consider them not having Julie because she is so integral to the BB brand. But of all the people who could do her job, I guess Jeff kinda was #bredforthis ????

      • I like as little of Julie as possible. I won’t pay for TV twice (double dipping by the network should be illegal) so I hope I find an alternative solution for watching this. What I’ll miss the most is “shh”ing my house, cranking up the TV just to hear Clayton “previously on Biiiig Brother” Halsey. It not the same show if I miss it. He needs a raise!

      • Ohhh you’re so right about Clayton Halsey! His voice IS Summer! Also about paying for tv twice. I cut the cord a few years ago and never looked back. I pay for Hulu, Netflix, and CBS- which ALL TOGETHER comes to $20-$25. A mere pinch of my previous satellite/cable bills. Hulu covers bajillions of shows from nearly every network youd find on cable, all your primetime shows etc. EXCEPT cbs. Netflix covers movies and past seasons of shows. CBS doesnt allow any if its programming on either of those apps, so i pay 5.99 for that and get live tv too. You should try it! The only bummer is you miss alot of live sports. What you don’t catch on CBS live you can hunt down online though :)

      • Live sports is the only reason I have not done that yet. But I’m looking for a work around and have some internet options. I just reduced my service and have been procrastinating a bit since. I have Comcast and hate paying through the nose. I’m going to get a VOIP device (like Ooma) so I can cut out a land line (I don’t use a cell much, and live in the only nearly dead spot in my town, so I need something more reliable). Then I’ll just pay them for internet.

        Thanks for the reply. I need the kick in the pants. ? Good info about CBS. Appreciated.

    • You should stand behind that guarantee. If you are wrong, you have to legally change your name to “Mule” for a year.

  2. Big Jeff is going to be the host, you heard it here first. There is not a chance Julie Chen is debasing herself for an online-only gig.

    • And if Julie Chen won’t lower herself to be part of BB19, neither will I. Come on, CBS. You want to kill a show … then just do it. Stop playing the “CBS All Access” game with loyal TV viewers.

  3. Hopefully this means we wont get the mess of FISH on the feeds ALL THE TIME, and less Jeff moments, because if its online, why do we have to wait?

  4. I doubt there wull be a host at all. But I think Matt Boyer would be a great host. But here are a few changes I hope they impliment.

    1. Superfans only. Its only 10 weeks, so I wanna see people who are willing to play right out the gate.

    2. A smaller cash prize. I think $500k is way too much money to be playing for. It shouldn’t even be about the money anyway. There are people who would be willing and honored to play the game for free. So I think $100k-$200k would be much better.

    3. No major changes and twists. It’s only 10 weeks. So no teams, no BotB, no siblings, no Takeover. Just striaght Big Brother with an all new cast.

    Of course CBS will probably ignore everything I just said, and do them anyway, but one can dream, right?

    • You think if they drop off two or three weeks they should drop the prize money to less than half? A half million after taxes doesnt amount to much. I just bought a row home in NE Philadelphia that cost over a quarter mill. and my daughters hyndai is 40K and my fiat was 37K. You may want to play for free, but I never would.

      • I would never play for free. I mean let’s have Survivor play for free. 1 mil? That’s a lot, but hey I wouldn’t do it. So, they deserve it. If there isn’t a big prize, you really lower the quality of contestants. Now I can’t speak as to why this cast is so bad

      • If you’re on the show, you are playing for free. You dont get the $500k unless you make it to the end and win.

      • You get paid for time spent in the house and extra for your time in the jury house.

      • Yes you do! That’s why most of them just care about making it to jury so they can get the extra $. The vets are getting more than the newbies, at least that’s what some of them were saying until production told them to stop talking about it.

      • I thought Frank let it slip out one time but I can’t remember what he said. Someone said the newbies got $1,000 per week in the house and extra if you make it to jury.

      • It’s not about the money. I don’t know what you do, but I’m sure it took you longer than 10 weeks to make all that money. And if not, you have no business playing Big Brother anyway.

      • I’m in no way a Trump, I’m just saying, life costs money, and it’s not cheap. I’ve been wondering why BB hasent raised its till to a million. You know they’ve got to be raking it in.

      • You don’t get it. At all. I clearly said twice, it’s not about the money, and you just don’t get it.

      • Oh, I see you’re in it for the spirit of the game, fun and meeting people from around the country. You must be young, or at least young at heart. You must be a happy sort. I see it as when Rachel won, Brenden was able to afford UCLA, see that’s where I’m coming from.

      • It’s not about the money FOR YOU. Some contestants have a kid and a life to pay for. The bills don’t stop just because you are on BB. Some people are old enough that they don’t get recess any more. You’re the one not getting it.

      • That’s not what big brother is about. This is not the powerball. Only one person wins the money. Most dont. most people get nothing. And they are fine with it. They are just glad to have the opportunity.

      • BBCan has no problem getting people to play for $100k. In the US, that would be $70k for 3 months work. Millions and millions of people would love a 1 in 14 chance at that kind of pay.

      • Why would you put try to bring partisan politics into this? Please, please don’t do that. This forum is an escape from that kind of garbage. Please, can we keep it that way?

      • $500K is a huge amount of money. And I know real estate in Philadelphia is expensive, but I’m not sure why anyone needs a $37K car and their kid needs a $40K car. The $20K cars run just as well.

      • Well my kid is 38 years old and when she was pregnant she looked for a car that would be safest for her baby if she were hit, thus the hyndai. And your right I wanted the chevy spark, but again my daughter got in my ear about a safer car to go up against a mac truck on 95 and if I wanted a car seat in my car for thier baby, well you know the rest

      • So you think someone should get a million dollars for not leaving a house for 10 weeks?

      • No, for playing a good game, that means winning comps, picking the right alliance, keeping their heads up out of the dirt. The Amazing Race pays a mill, why not BB these kids have a tough road ahead of them look at the economy

      • Yes. I do think that. Look into what advertisers pay during this show. If you understood how much money is being made off you , you’d sing a different tune. That prize isn’t even a sniff of what the network makes over a season of BB.

        BBs ratings are constantly in the top 5 ,and often top 3, every week (age 18-49).

      • Then you shouldn’t be on the show. What’s so hard to understand about that? You watch the show for free. You might even pay the live feeds.

    • I would prefer the opposite of your #1 and have them cast only people who have never watched the show. See what happens when they go back to basics.

      • Not at all! If that were the case, they wouldn’t have pawns, a SINGLE target each week, and “I’ll vote with the house consensus”. It’s the worst. When there’s 8 people voting and 5 of them say they’ll go with the house, it makes the game so dull.

    • In Canada we play for 100K, and you can ask anyone, our Big Brother is da bomb!

    • Do you know how much money they are making off the cast? Half a million is nothing. Why arbitrarily lower it? What would that accomplish anyways? It’s not like their rating are in the toilet and they have to save money to save the show.

  5. I’m hyped, but I kinda feel bad for the TV-only viewers. It’s going to be rough on them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they find a drop in ratings for BB19 because of CBS only making the show available for a certain audience.

    • Maybe more will subscribe to CBS all access. It will have less commercials to almost no commercials, skip the election coverage, Thurs night football, BBAD, etc. I know I would be more prone to this way. I say, go for it!!!

    • I’m sure links will be available for viewers to watch. Like putlocker, gorillavid, etc.

    • And that would be exactly the point – to justify cancelling it all together because not enough viewers watched Season 19. I’m predicting after Season 19 there will be no more BB.

    • Don’t feel bad. Pirated copies of the episodes will be online within hours of each airing.

  6. Well.. I don’t like the All Access only thing. I watch on TV and read online religiously. I haven’t paid for the feeds in years mostly because no cast has been worth it. Who says this cast will be worth my money either?

    It’s a cool idea but I already pay for cable so why should I add another expense to my bills…

    • I totally agree. I like readingabout what’s happening in the house. Take a lot less time to read than to watch. I don’t watch enough TV to go paying for more TV.

    • Seriously, my bill alone is almost 200 a month, and as you said, will this cast even be worth it? I doubt it, this seasons cast sucks, last season was just blah with the know nothing twins and their creepy stalker dude wrestler lol. The last season I remember watching and truly enjoying was season 15. Everything after that has been not so good IMO. No way ill be paying extra to watch a lame season. If they bring back all vets however I may reconsider. That is the only way I could see that drawing in enough viewers.

      • The casts have been bad. I agree. I think about Will and Boogie in the diary room. Where did that fun go? They prove you can have fun and still play hard. These people are sad and forgettable over the last few season for the most part.

        People are obviously winning, so why do they ALL feel like floaters still? (Frank was the only one I felt was really playing to win.)

        Bring on Zingbot soon!

    • Yeah, I’ve never paid for the feeds, but I like to read the stuff on here. I barely have to watch the show. (Basically I just watch to get to know them at first and then just to watch how production edits them favorably or unfavorably.)

      The only reason I would pay for the feeds is to watch the comps ahead of time and it looks like they don’t even show the comps on the feeds

    • Exactly. They are double/triple dipping. Making us pay for a subscription to watch commercials on something we already paid for, it’s actually triple dipping. It’s pretty disgusting.

  7. Are you serious? Now we have to pay to see BB.. are they trying to build up the kitty because they aren’t making enough when its aired?
    How much does it cost and will it work with apple TV so we can watch it on the tv?

  8. I guess it’s great there’s going to be a new season…but with it being on-line only, I doubt I’ll actually watch it, especially if I have to pay for the “privilege”.

    Call me old fashioned, but I like to watch my TV on my, you know, actual TV…

  9. Welp… looks like my life will be on pause until at least December. I want a brake from Big Brother but that’s isn’t happening.

  10. Does this mean that future seasons of Big Brother will not be on CBS anymore and no more Big Brother After Dark on POP?

    • I hope it gets cancelled. I hate watching stuff in my computer. The monitor is not nearly as big as my TV.

  11. I think they are doing the same thing with American Idol too. This is the future of reality competition shows.

  12. If I have to sign up or pay for it, I wont be watching. I’ll just wait for Big Brother 20 next summer.

    • BB20 will more than likely be the same type of deal. That’s kinda the way things work. Once a show goes online, it doesn’t go back to television. I would say BB on TV is over after this season.

      • Well… I guess this is the last Big Brother I’ll be watching. I’m very disappointed, I’d hope to see at least one more good season after all these recent failures. Failures as in snooze fests.

      • Yeah, if it was a spin-off show. Like Big Brother: All Stars, or Big Brother: Heroes vs Villains, or something of that sort. It would probably come back to TV. But since it’s a legitimate season 19. I just don’t see it happening.

  13. I definitely refuse to have to do any hooking up, changing around, buying a cable, or doing any modifications to enable watching something on my TV and I will not watch it on my computer. Most of my TV watching(a large percentage DVR’d) is done while I am busy working in the kitchen, so watching on a computer will never be an option for me.

    • My daughter tells me the smart TV can play things off the computer. I’m starting to fell like I understand my beloved grammy when she said 8 channels!?, ( when the added UHF) who needs all those channels, this is ridiculous! when my parents bought her the new TV with the added channels. Never agreed with her about TV not needing to be color thou. Uh oh, thanks BB for tossing oldies to the side:(

      • CBS doesn’t care about you old people. Once you’re out of the 18-49 range, you don’t matter anymore. They can only use their 18-49 ratings to sell to advertisers anyway. You’re nothing but an old, dusty relic to them.

    • lol you old people are funny. Just buy a smart TV. It’s one ac adapter cable, that you plug into an outlet. The rest is wireless. You already have internet, so all you need to do hook it up to your wifi. It’s easy. Get your grandkids to do it for you. They’ll have it done in 5 minutes.

      • My TV does everything that I need for it to do. Us “old people” have a little more sense than some young people who don’t think anything about spending money all the time.

      • Right, my son in law will buy anything thats TV or computer related. My grandson had his own tablet when he was 1. He will be three any minit:) Gotta brag, us old folks and all that:)

      • My grandchildren are my joy in life. You should brag, sara. :)
        When my TV or computer tears up, I’ll buy another one. Just like my car. I love it, it has served me well and it is 13 years old and looks great because I take good care of it. I have adopted the “old” philosophy of waste not want not.

      • I had a 1995 little purple hyndai, i loved it, it went 3 years ago and my daughter gave me her 2000 saturn, Its obsolete when it went, time to get on with it. I’m not a big spender, but the baby changed alot when it came to the cars

      • My car only has 70,000 miles on it and has NEVER been in the shop (knock on wood).When it gets 100,000, I might buy a new one. :D

      • This car belonged to a little old lady who only used it to get to the market…..LOL good for you.

      • Boy Elmer…what do you have against “old people?” lol After all this is the comment section. Maybe I have not scrolled and read as many comments as you???? Do us old pple aggravate you THAT much? ;)

  14. Why can’t Julie be the host? It’s not a hard job. She works one hour a week, and reads teleprompters and cue cards. She doesn’t even narrate the show. She just reads her interview questions from a card that a producer wrote up. She probably spends more time in hair & makeup than she does on-camera.

  15. Very interesting and exciting news!
    I’m curious if they will try for a Winter/Spring season as well, then we could have BB all year long lol.

    And yeah, it’s almost guaranteed that Jeff will be hosting this. CBS has been grooming him for awhile now to be the next Julie and this could be a great “dry run” for him.

    I’m also curious that since this season will be online only, if they will show more stuff on the shows like swearing/nudity etc.

    I’m excited though, i’m glad CBS is willing to give this a shot, guess we’ll see how it goes!

    • A winter BB then they’ll be in blankets outside instead of inside, but BB year round? That would be a bit much me thinks. I look forward to my summer TV

      • Not hot. Our weather has been warmer later into fall, but it is cool by late November. The HGs definitely won’t be laying by the pool in their swim suits then.

        IMO, it won’t be quite the same show at that time of year. Summer at the BB house is what BB is all about. I hope we don’t eventually lose that.

  16. I don’t think this is fair to all viewers. Not everyone has the money for the feeds. Like a lot of people cannot get the feeds or afford them. Well this sucks guess I’ll be missing out on a season of BB.

  17. Does All Access have commercials? I have a big problem with paying for additional viewing (especially from a big 4 network) if there is still commercials.

    • Yes, tons of commercials. The same ones, over and over and over and over again. It is extremely frustrating.

    • I know that in my computer I have to unblock the commercials when I try to access CBS. ABC also has that nuisance.

  18. I think they will try that for one week then when they raiting are terrible it will return back on tv LOL

    • Is definitely a test to see if viewers can’t get enough and would spend their whole lives watching BB.

  19. I’m worried…. is this going to be the permanent switch? Why would they do that though since BB is a summer powerhouse?

    I mean im glad BB is still going but it wasnt like they were struggling with ratings to begin with. It kinda sucks it’s online only.

    • I don’t think they’ll move the show out of summer permamently as it’s still CBS’s top rating summer show.

      However, it doesn’t hurt to capitalize on the franchise’s preexistig online presence to see if it can become a viable property for All Access.

    • I don’t think this is the plan. I assume Season 19 will be online and next Summer S20 will be broadcast as always. It’s a cheap way to provide Summer programming with no major talent costs (beside Chen) so I can’t see them canceling the broadcast show. It doesn’t have to do very big numbers in order to be profitable for CBS (the broadcast version) because there’s little competition elsewhere.

    • mmm I have no idea however I have a kodi box so maybe I will be able to watch it there I guess I have to wait until it aurs and see

  20. Questions
    1. Will you be posting updates like you have done for previous season? (Like you’re doing now for bb18)
    2. Does anyone know with all acess, will it be live feeds only or will it be shortened into episodes, like it is now with hoh, nominations, veto, eviction, as well.

  21. Here’s my two cents. Ever since I got a DVR with my cable company, CBS has been the ONLY major network that isn’t available with the On Demand function. They’ve been making people pay to watch their shows for years, not just for Big Brother. I’m sure there are a lot of people who cancel their subscriptions to CBS once BB is over. This is a way for them to make more money on their already greedy All Access. You have to ask yourself why does CBS think they are so much better than the other major networks that they force their viewers to pay when others don’t? Sorry but that’s a real sticking point for me so I will not be watching the fall version. Thanks but no thanks.

  22. Do people still pay to watch tv and movies. You can find everything online for free and season 19 is no different. Even the live feeds I watch for free. Next thing you’ll hear people say is why are there all these ads on here.

      • “Oh no. I have to use a computer to watch a tv show. This is the end.” – half the commenters

      • You have an absolute valid point about everything being free. I just think ALOT of pple think/thought they must pay to watch on their computers. In fact its quite the opposite. I say forget cable…lol

    • Not everyone is computer savvy, so yes they have to pay for it because they don’t have the skills to go and find it for free. Those people do exist….LOL

      • Way to jump to conclusions, people! I’m not particularly old, I’m 30. I won’t pay for cable and I wouldn’t pay for a CBS subscription to watch TV when I can get TV free over the air (which for the record, is how everyone got TV service for quite some time – I remember when my family first got cable service), even if it was an option. I live in Canada, so we’re geo-blocked anyway. My husband and I also don’t pay for Internet at home, because you have to pay over $100 a month where we live to get enough data to watch anything. When we need the Internet, we go to a coffee shop or the public library. We can put that money we don’t spend on TV and Internet aside every month and pay off our house years earlier, or retire years earlier, because we earn money on it when we invest it instead of spending it. That’s a personal choice we made and it’s not for everyone, but I mention it to point out that it has nothing to do with age or fear of computers or lack of a smart TV (or other device) or ignorance of what proxy servers can do – it’s about cost-benefit analysis. So, yes, I think its greedy on the part of CBS, but I’m also not surprised – they are in business to make money, after all. They will certainly lose some viewership, but probably not enough for it to hurt their bottom line – so those losses won’t matter to them. Those of us who can’t (or won’t) continue to watch online will somehow move on with our lives and find somewhere else to put those dollars and those hours of free time. The pain will be minimal with all the new shows that will be out in the fall anyway – I won’t miss BB when Survivor starts – and in the event that BB doesn’t return to broadcast TV in the summer, something else will have to fill that time slot. To me, it’s not so different from when a show dies due to a major character change, or an outright cancellation. Then again, I still have BBCan to look forward to, so maybe I can let go a little easier :).

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