 Logo used from 2002 to 2008 | |
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Box Television ( Bauer Group/Channel Four Television Corporation ) |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | 30 October 2002 |
| Closed | 15 August 2008 |
| Replaced by | 4Music (first version) |
| Availability (at time of closure) | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 18 |
The Hits was a music video channel broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland, owned by Box Television. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as 4Music.
The channel showcased a range of pop centred on chart hits and current favourites. Originally, the vast majority of music videos were selected by viewers by means of calling a premium-rate telephone number, however the policy was abandoned with the channel playing an automated selection of videos and countdown shows presented by celebrities and singers past and present. Programming was often themed to coincide with events such as St. Patrick's Day and Christmas.
The channel was available free-to-air on the British digital terrestrial television service Freeview on channel 18. It was also available on Sky Digital, encrypted as a part of Sky's Music Pack. The Hits was also available on Virgin Media and was included in the basic package. It was also able to be seen through the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
87-07 is a series of programmes where a song is played from each of the years from 1987 to 2007. There was a more up to date version called 88-08 which is the same as 87-07 except it goes from 1988 to 2008. There were different collections of songs depending on different things that the songs had in common, an example of 87-07 is Cheesy Pop 87-07 which includes the songs "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, "Saturday Night" by Whigfield and "C'est la Vie" by B*Witched which are all commonly regarded as "cheesy pop songs".
Another type of programme on The Hits was where one hundred songs are played, usually counting down to a song that is featured as "number one". This varies from 100 Forgotten Gems of the Nineties to The Nation's Favourite Love Songs. Similarly formatted programmes with fifty or twenty songs were also broadcast.
The Hits Chart was played at around 12.15 and 17:15 Monday-Friday. The Hits Chart was simply a countdown of the biggest songs of the day.
The Hits had a programme called Every Number One of the Nineties which, as the title suggests, played every number one of the nineties back to back. It was played over a bank holiday weekend in two parts, the first part on the Sunday and the second part on the Monday. Every Number One of the Nineties has been played on 4Music in small segments. A similar programme was Every Number One of the Twenty-first Century.
Early in the morning, there was a programme called "Signed by The Hits". This programme's duration was usually 30 minutes. The programme involved a sign language interpreter signing to the songs on screen to help deaf people understand the music. Due to persistent criticism, the show was removed.
On 20 February 2008, it was announced that The Hits would change its name to 4Music later in the year, and a trial period broadcast on Sundays under the 4Music banner was broadcast on Sunday evenings during the spring. [1] In June 2008 it was further announced that this replacement was to take place during the V Festival weekend on 15 August. [2] The replaced station shows predominantly music videos, alongside live performances and Channel 4 programming like Star Stories and The Sunday Night Project , in addition to documentaries about artists. [3]
In the weeks before the launch, 4Music aired teaser trailers for the channel as part of its extensive promotion of the rebrand and as part of the promotion one of the three stages for T4 On The Beach was named the 4Music stage.
The Hits stopped broadcasting music videos on Friday 15 August 2008 at 06:00. The last video played on The Hits was "Thank You for the Music" by ABBA, before heading in to a promo for 4Music, which would be launched from 19:00
In November 2007, Ofcom found The Hits had breached its broadcast licence for failing to retain copies of its programming. Two viewers had complained questioning the authenticity of some of the winning entries on text-in quiz programme Win Win TV, broadcast overnight on 26 June.
The broadcaster was unable to provide Ofcom with a review copy of the programme in question because of "problems with its logging system". Condition 11 of a Television Licensable Content Service licence requires the broadcaster to keep recordings of all output for 60 days after transmission, providing Ofcom with any material on request.
"Failure to supply these recordings is a serious and significant breach of the broadcaster’s licence. This will be held on record," the regulator noted. [4]
In 2003, companion radio station The Hits Radio was launched. It ceased broadcasting on 4 June 2018.
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including publicity. It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence-funded BBC1 and BBC2, and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV.
Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taking over the licence from ITV Digital which collapsed that year. The service provides consumer access via an aerial to the seven DTT multiplexes covering the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has 85 TV channels, 26 digital radio channels, 10 HD channels, six text services, 11 streamed channels, and one interactive channel.
Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.
TMF was a music video and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel was owned by Viacom International Media Networks and was originally a Dutch channel. Formed after the two other TMF stations, which were based in mainland Europe, the channel was created to counter against EMAP's The Hits channel on the new free-to-air digital terrestrial television service Freeview in 2002. The channel ceased broadcasting on 26 October 2009.
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010, the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It contains a list of DAB and DAB+ radio stations operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Global and News Broadcasting.
C4 was a New Zealand television channel owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. C4 was available on both digital terrestrial and satellite platforms and played music around the clock, including music from C4's sister radio division from The Rock, The Edge, The Breeze, More FM, George FM, Mai FM & The Sound. C4 also aired a lot of speciality music shows such as HomeGrown, Top 10/100, Video Hits, Fade To Black, Steel Mill, the UChoose40 and the Biggest Records Right Now. The channel was originally launched on Friday 3 October 2003 at 08:00pm as a re-branding of TV4 which had been broadcasting since 1997. On 1 May 2010, as C4 had been moving away from music programming since 2008, the jukebox side was split off and C4 launched a second C4 channel on Channel 9 called C4 2. C4 2 was only available on digital Freeview terrestrial and satellite platforms. At the end of 2010 an announcement was made that MediaWorks would again re-brand the current C4 channel as FOUR, which meant C4 2 would be converted to a music show as C4 was moved to its Channel 9 position. C4 shut down on Thursday 26 June 2014 at 01:00 am. It was replaced by The Edge TV the next day on Friday 27 June 2014 at 04:00 pm. Nearly a decade later on 17 October 2023 two weeks after the official 20th anniversary, The Spinoff paid tribute to C4 in a podcast video on YouTube celebrating C4's 20 year anniversary.
Channel Four Television Corporation is a British state-owned media company which runs 12 television channels and a streaming service. Unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is instead funded entirely by its own commercial activities. Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.
Hit40UK was a networked Top 40 chart show broadcasting on around 130 UK commercial radio stations every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm. It was also a TV programme shown on 4Music. The radio version was produced in house by Global Radio and Somethin' Else. The show was cancelled on 7 June 2009 and the last number 1 single was Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas, played at 6:52pm.
Original 106fm was formerly a radio station broadcasting to the Solent region of southern England, centred on the towns and cities of Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth, from its transmitters at Chillerton Down, Mannings Heath (Poole) and Crabwood Farm (Winchester). It was awarded its broadcast licence in September 2005 and launched on 1 October 2006 and ceased broadcasting on 30 September 2008.
Box Hits was a British commercial television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel broadcast general pop music in shows such as Chartbusters, which was recent music and Pop Domination, which showcased new and old music. It also shows other programmes such as themed countdowns and charts such as Top 50 Boy Bands. The channel also had hours dedicated to a particular artist or band such as Pussycat Dolls: Ultimate 10. It was originally based on the former Smash Hits magazine, which was owned by EMAP. The channel shut down on 29 June 2022 at 6am and was replaced with a new version of 4Music.
Bubble Hits was an Irish digital television music channel owned by Creative Sounds. It broadcast two channels, one for Ireland, and a Pan-European feed which covered the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Germany. On 13 February 2009, Bubble Hits went off air and was removed from most of TV EPGs. The websites, including the official one and social networking versions on MySpace and Bebo l, were also removed. The closure of the channel was due to the current downturn in advertising revenue.
E4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. The "E" stands for entertainment and the channel is primarily aimed at the 16/18–34 age group.
Kutonen (Sixth) is a Finnish general entertainment channel that replaced the music-video oriented The Voice TV in September 2012. Kutonen is very closely related to its Danish counterpart 6'eren, sharing its visual branding and much programming with it, as well as having close strategic connections to other brands owned and operated by SBS in other European countries.
Flava was a British hip-hop music television channel owned and operated by Sony Pictures Television.
Bubble Hits Ireland was a short-lived Irish owned digital television music channel operated by Creative Sounds. Bubble Hits Ireland aim to be a much-needed platform for Irish bands and artists to showcase their music alongside the current programming and music structure of Bubble Hits. It was the first 24/7 Irish music TV station. On 13 February 2009, Bubble Hits went off air and was removed from most of the TV EPGs. The websites, including the official one and social networking versions on MySpace and Bebo were also removed. The closure of the channel was due to the current downturn in advertising revenue.
4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation that launched on 15 August 2008.
JACK FM was an adult hits format radio station that broadcast on 106.8 MHz FM in Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, and on DAB in Oxfordshire. Between 2016 and 2017 it also broadcast in Surrey and parts of Hampshire. The station shared premises in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, with its sister stations JACK 2 and JACK 3.
MTV is a British pay television channel focusing on reality TV and music programming operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia.
That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat, Freeview, and Virgin Media. That's TV started off as the owner of a number of local television licences in several conurbations, but even though regional news can still be found via these services, these channels simulcast the classic hits and television schedule of the national That's TV channel for most of the day. That's Television Ltd is owned by That's Media Ltd, which is based at The Flint Glass Works in the Ancoats neighbourhood of Manchester.
This is a timeline of the history of Channel 4.
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