[XIII]

I don’t think it’s fair to say Neighbours would have been dead in the water if Channel 5 hadn’t come along. There was no suggestion at the time the BBC didn’t want to keep it and even at that time it was popularity in the UK that had kept it alive for some time. I know there are those who say the BBC would have got bored of it after a few years and it’s impossible to know. But likely it would have ended up on Channel 5 anyway and possible the increased popularity would have sustained it a bit longer.

What the Channel 5 deal did was probably allowed Ten to stop putting any money into it. But it also shouldn’t be forgot there was reports of Channel 5 under Richard Desmond and then Viacom constantly renegotiating the contract.

I don’t think Amazon are serious about trying to keep the show going for years but I’m sure they know they’ll probably make their money back off the initial publicity for the Freevee service.

I suspect Amazon are on a better deal for Neighbours compared to Channel 5 back in 2007 who overbid as they needed a marquee title for the channel and keep in mind this was a year before the 2008 recession so they were willing to splash the cash whereas under Ben Frow and Paramount, they're more financially prudent.