'Big Brother 19' News: Season To Premiere This Fall Exclusively On CBS All Access? [VIDEO]
Big Brother 19 is coming a lot sooner than you think.
The 19th season of Big Brother is set to premiere this fall. Not only that, but the season will not air on CBS. It will be a special online-only season that will stream exclusively on CBS All Access, the network's answer to Netflix. This news was confirmed by multiple major media outlets on Tuesday but first reported by reality blurred last week.
Casting for Big Brother 19 has already begun, as seen on the show's casting website. Season 19 will reportedly feature all new houseguests, according to Deadline. Their report also says that this season will likely be 10 weeks long, instead of the usual 13-14 weeks.
The premiere date for Big Brother 19 is not yet known, though Deadline reports that it will be shortly after the Big Brother 18 finale. This is just the second season of Big Brother to run outside of the usual summer season. The other season to air outside of summer was Big Brother 9, which began in Feb. 2008 due to Hollywood's writer strike.
CBS airing a Big Brother season through CBS All Access is likely a push to maintain a strong subscriber base for the streaming site. The subscription service provides the Big Brother live feeds but with BB seasons ending in September, there's not much incentive for fans to keep their accounts beyond summer. It remains to be seen if Big Brother fans will be burned out by season 18 to start up another season so quickly, but CBS is clearly banking on fans' obsession with the show to continue all year round.
CBS All Access is gearing up for a big new phase of its existence, with the original series Star Trek: Discovery streaming exclusively on the site in January. Additionally, The Good Wife spinoff starring Christine Baranski is in development and is expected to drop in 2017 as well.
