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CSC Media Group Limited

Trade name	CSC Media Group
Formerly	Chart Show Channels
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	20 May 2002; 23 years ago (2002-05-20) in England
Defunct	27 November 2019; 6 years ago (2019-11-27)
Fate	Dormancy and liquidation; Music channels are owned by theTrace Group Kids and family movies and general entertainment channels are owned by Narrative Capital
Successor	Sony Pictures Television Narrative Entertainment
Headquarters	London, England
Area served	United Kingdom and Ireland
Key people	Remy Minute
Number of employees	51
Parent	Sony Pictures Television (2014–2019)

CSC Media Group Limited, formerly known asChart Show Channels (CSC), was a Britishcable television andbroadcasting company that operated from 20 May 2002 until its dissolution by its final owner,Sony Pictures Television, on 27 November 2019.^[1]

CSC Media Group was named after the now defunct UK music showThe Chart Show, which ran onITV andChannel 4 for twelve years. CSC evolved from the original Chart Show production company Video Visuals, to Chart Show Channels, which was then acquired in 2007 by private equity group Veronis Suhler Stevenson.^[2]

Until its acquisition bySony Pictures Television, the company owned 16 channels, all of which are advertising-funded andfree to air (FTA).

Chart Show Channels was founded on 20 May 2002. The company's first channel -Chart Show TV, launched on Sky on 16 September that year, with high viewing figures within its first week of launch.^[3] On 14 October a sister network,Chart Shop TV, was launched. This network allowed viewers to purchase CDs and music-related merchandise. It aired on the same broadcast capacity as Chart Show, and aired from 4:00–6:00 am early in the morning during Chart Show's downtime.

In March 2003, Chart Shop TV closed, and its broadcast capacity was used forVideo Vault, once again broadcasting late-at-night during Chart Show TV's downtime.^[4] On 30 May the company's first children's network -Toons & Tunes soft-launched before fully launching as Pop in July. Video Vault would fully launch that month as The Vault, moving into Pop's broadcast capacity as a nighttime service. In September, a sister channel to Pop - Pop Plus, was launched, which functioned similarly to a timeshift service, although it didn't always air the same programmes as its sister channel. On 17 September The Vault moved out of Pop's capacity space and gained its own 24-hour slot.^[5]

In July 2004, the company's next music channelB4 was launched in Pop Plus' broadcast capacity, broadcasting in its space at night. Pop Plus later re-launched as the pre-school-orientedTiny Pop at the end of the month.

In 2006,British Sky Broadcasting sold their three music channelsBliss (previouslyThe Amp),Scuzz, andFlaunt to CSC. Formerly encrypted, CSC made the channels FTA like the rest of their channels.

In 2007, they launched five channels; two of which weretimeshift channels:Pop +1 andTiny Pop +1. The third channel was a new children's channel calledPop Girl, aimed at a young female audience. The fourth channel wasAnimeCentral, which time-shares with Pop Girl, and shows animated series for an older audience; it was the first dedicated channel in the UK for anime broadcasting. The fifth wasMinx, which was a spin-off music channel from the Minx slot shown on Chart Show TV. Minx was later replaced byNME TV, which is a dedicated indie music channel.

In 2008, they rebranded B4 toFlava after showing a mix of R&B music for a few months prior to this in March. The channel also went16:9 widescreen prior to the rebrand, to match the other CSC music channels. On Tuesday 6 May, they launchedFlaunt +1, a 1-hour timeshifted version of Flaunt. This was their first-ever timeshifted music channel, and is also the second to launch in the UK, afterMTV One +1 (now MTV +1) launched in February 2008, replacingMTV Flux. On Monday 12 May, six days after launching their first music timeshift,Bliss +1, their second music channel timeshift, was launched and their third music channel timeshift,Scuzz +1 launched in November 2008. It soon closed, and the satellite transponder space was then used byNHK World TV. On Monday 19 May, they launched their fourth kids channel, replacingPop +1.Kix! started at 06:00 hours, showing a mixture of cartoons, extreme sports, as well as music, aimed for boys, similar to another kids channel,Jetix. From its launch until the early 2010, it broadcast from 06:00 to 23:30 daily.Pop Girl +1, a 1-hour timeshifted version of Pop Girl launched on Wednesday 4 June, replacing their first music channel timeshift,Flaunt +1, which had only been on air just short of four weeks.AnimeCentral has been replaced withShowcase TV on 27 August 2008, which simulcasts a mixture of channels such asPop Girl,Chart Show TV,True Movies 2, along withAnimeCentral programming block with repeats ofCowboy Bebop andGhost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

CSC was the majority owner of Moving Movies Ltd, withTrue Movies 1 being the first channel from the company, it launched on 8 April 2005 and was joined byTrue Movies 2 in March 2006. Both channels showed mainly made-for-TV movies from a range of genres, all based on real-life events and people.

They were announced as being one of the channel providers providingDVB-H channels in a 16 channel trial of the technology inOxford,^{[citation needed]} a system which would have carried Chart Show TV.

CSC was one of the parties involved in bidding for a low-bandwidth, 18-hour-a-day stream on the UK'sdigital terrestrial television (DTT) system in November 2005.^[6]

LikeThe Box Plus Network andAll Around the World Productions channels, all of CSC's music channels now broadcast 24 hours a day.

In May 2012, CSC launchedBuzMuzik, a new music television channel driven by mobile phone (text/mms) and social media.

In February 2013, CSC launched True Entertainment +1, a one-hour timeshift of True Entertainment. It was replaced byTrue Drama on 4 June 2013.

On 22 July 2013, Kix Power launched, replacing Pop Girl +1 on Sky. That was rebranded as Kix +1 on 1 October 2013, rebranded as Kix Power again on Christmas 2013 and Easter 2014; and was renamed Kix + on 22 April 2014. This timeshift was replaced with Pop +1 on 14 July 2014.

In late 2013, CSC purchasedStarz TV, which was a sole channel by Cloud Television One Limited, following the collapse ofMushroom TV and the sale of Mushroom's all other channels toAll Around the World Productions. In April 2014, CSC closed BuzMuzik, and replaced it with a revival of True Entertainment +1. The channel also closed for CSC to broadcast Starz TV.

On 26 June 2014,Sony Pictures Television,Sony's TV programming and network unit, said it would buy CSC and its 16 channels for £107 million ($180 million).^[7] The deal was completed on 15 August 2014.^[8] All the channels were transferred toSony Pictures Television, and the company went dormant.

On 13 December 2018, their four remaining music channels were sold to theTRACE Group.^[9]

On 27 November 2019, the company was liquidated and dissolved.^[1]

As of 2025, Tiny Pop, Tiny Pop +1, Pop, and Pop +1 were the only CSC channels to still exist, as Pop Max closed on 22 April 2025.

On January 1, 2026, Narrative shutdown both Pop and Tiny Pop, meaning all former CSC Media Group channels were closed. Both channels became aFAST-only television channel.

Note: former channels in light red closed before the start of Sony's deal.

• CSC Media Group
• 2002 establishments in England
• 2019 disestablishments in England
• British companies established in 2002
• British companies disestablished in 2019
• Mass media companies based in London
• Mass media companies established in 2006
• Mass media companies disestablished in 2019
• Sony Pictures Television
• Former Sony subsidiaries
• 2014 mergers and acquisitions
• British subsidiaries of foreign companies

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