Big Brother bosses have come under fire for charging punters £9.99 a month to view material online from the cult TV show.

More than 1,700 people have signed a petition calling for the "rip off" charges to be scrapped.

Last year the streaming of live action from the BB house was free. This year, though, Channel 4 has imposed charges because of the costs involved with streaming.

In one report C4 claimed that charging would actually improve the service on offer.

But this has already been disputed by some who've coughed up their cash and found that they are unable to access any live content.

One reader told The Register: "Having filled my credit card details in I was expecting to be impressed. But, hey what's this... 'Link outdated' on EVERY connection attempt.

"I am not the only one either and know of at least 20 more just from the chatrooms with the same problem. My friend's PC wont connect either," he said.

No one from C4 was available for comment at the time of writing. ®