A few short days ago, we reported that the Futon Critic had word that Big Brother 12 would air on the Sun, Wed, Thur schedule and now that has been confirmed. Details below. Oh and Julie returns as host… but that was never really in question EW

It’s our duty at Hollywood Insiderto report the big headlines in television each and every day. Other times, we just look for an excuse to run a picture of Julie Chen. Today, you get both! CBS announced that the 12th edition of Big Brother will premiere on Thursday, July 8. The network will air the reality show three nights a week on Wednesdays (8-9 p.m. ET/PT), Thursdays (eviction show from 8-9 p.m.) and Sundays (8-9 p.m).

CBS used to air BB on Tuesdays but the network wanted to keep its winning line-up of dramas on that night intact for the summer.

The network will announce the new cast at a later date. Last year’s edition of BB posted a 7 percent increase in viewers (7.08 million from 6.60 million), and a 4 percent jump in adults 18-49 (2.5 rating/8 share from 2.4/07).  Each of the three weekly broadcasts also posted summer-to-summer growth. [...]

Big Brother is exec produced by Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan in association with Endemol U.S.A. And yes, Chen will return as host.