 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 Final logo, used from 2013 to 2024 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Channel Four Television Corporation |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | 25 April 1992; 33 years ago (1992-04-25) |
| Closed | 30 June 2024; 16 months ago (2024-06-30) |
| Channel 4 |
|---|
_2023.svg) |
| Television channels |
| Former channels |
| Online services |
| Other |
The Box was atelevision channel in theUnited Kingdom andIreland, owned and operated byChannel Four Television Corporation. It primarily broadcastmusic videos and music-related programs.
On 29 January 2024, Channel 4 announced in a press release that they would close The Box and its sister channels, which occurred on 30 June 2024.[1]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Box" British and Irish TV channel – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Box was brought to the United Kingdom by Vincent Monsey and his partner Liz Laskowski, who discovered the original American music video channel inMiami in 1991, when it was then known asThe Jukebox Network.[citation needed] The UK company, Video Jukebox Network International Limited, was formed in 1991 andThe Box was launched the following year in April 1992.[citation needed] The Box was initially carried by four operatorsUA,Telewest inLondon andBristol, Nynex in the south of England, and Videotron, which was also based in London, and over the next few years, The Box started to launch on a regional basis across all of the United Kingdom's cable system and eventually ontoSky Digital in 1998.[citation needed] The Box was also broadcast on theAstra Satellite between 2:00 am and 6:00 am during the downtime ofGranada Plus andMen & Motors.[citation needed] From 1999, all the regional versions of The Box were shut down and replaced with a single UK version.[citation needed]
Ticketmaster Inc. briefly owned 50% of the company (Box Television Ltd) before becoming a public company on theFTSE.[citation needed]EMAP took ownership of these shares in 1997, and purchased the shareholding held by the US company VJN Inc, which had then become TCI Music and then Liberty Digital.[citation needed] The US version of the channel was sold toMTV Networks in 2000, and was rebranded asMTV2 sometime afterwards, with EMAP retaining ownership.
In July 2007,Channel Four Television Corporation acquired 50% of Box Television,[citation needed] before EMAP's remaining 50% in the company was sold toBauer Media Group in January 2008.[citation needed] In 2019, Channel 4 took full ownership of the company, now known as The Box Plus Network.[2]
On 2 April 2013, all Box Television channels wentfree-to-air on satellite, except for4Music which wentfree-to-view.[3] As a result, the channels were removed from the Sky EPG in Ireland.[4] The Box was added to theFreesat EPG on 15 April 2013, alongside three other Box Television channels. The Box and its sister channels (except 4Music) returned to Freesat on 8 December 2021 alongside C4 HD.[5]
Each year on 1 November, the channel temporary rebranded as "BoXmas", playing Christmas hits. It also played regular hits during post-Christmas days.[citation needed]
On the evening of 25 September 2021, transmission of channels operated by Channel 4 was impacted by the activation of a fire suppressant system at the premises ofRed Bee Media.[6] This resulted in The Box being simulcast on Freeview in the place of4Music, and the channel being broadcast in the place of 4Music,Kerrang! TV andMagic on satellite and cable.[citation needed]
On 29 January 2024, Channel 4 announced it would be shutting down several of its smaller and declining channels which no longer delivered revenue and public value, including The Box.[7] The channel's schedule for June 2024 hinted at a closure date of 30 June, as it featured several video blocks referring to the channel in the past tense, including a reuse of the channel's original logo and slogan, with its original slogan slightly alted to "Music Television You Controled".
At 23:59 on 30 June 2024, The Box closed, with its final music video being "Goodbye" by theSpice Girls. It then played the shutdown promo before cutting to a screen saying "This service has now closed", as with its sister channels.
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Box received profits made from music video selections, which were made by the viewers usingpremium rate phone lines, as well as the small fees fromBSkyB for being an encrypted channel.[citation needed] Each week, a newplaylist would be released and would generally contain new or current music videos. In its earlier years, the playlist was published onteletext and the channel's website.[citation needed] In later years, The Box operated from a pre-programmed playlist and did not include video selection jukeboxes.[citation needed]
The channel was well known for its "First Play" feature, where many videos often made their UK or world premiere. This new music was often shown through the "Box Fresh" show. Most notably, The Box was recognized for the particular force behind the huge success of Spice Girls' 1996 hit "Wannabe", playing their first single months before its official release date.[8]
Notably, from late 1991 to early 2000, there was a trend of artists certifying their names on The Box in their music videos, though the practice was not widespread. In most cases, this was simply an insertion of the logo at some point in the regular video, however in a few cases, the channel was actually certified their names by the artists themselves. The most notable example of this is the video for theS Club 7 song "S Club Party", which also had an extended opening and closing never seen on other music channels.[9]
| This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Box" British and Irish TV channel – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
From June 1, 2024, until June 30, 2024, The Box's programming reflected on its history as it prepared to close down.[10]
| Television channels | |
|---|---|
| Former channels | |
| Online services | |
| Other | |
