A BRAND new channel is launching on Sky and Virgin Media tomorrow that will help fill the void left by five recent departures.
The Box, 4Music, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang TV all closed down over the weekend – The Box being the longest on air for 32 years.
In a touching farewell, each of the five channels played a final song with a significant meaning on Sunday night.
4Music went out with Pink‘s 2010 smash-hit single Raise Your Glass, while The Box ended on Goodbye by Spice Girls.
Elsewhere, Magic closed with Boyz II Men’s End of the Road, Kiss selected Rihanna‘s Don’t Stop The Music and Kerrang chose Fall Out Boy’s Thnks fr th Mmrs (Thanks For The Memories) as their final tracks.
The move means the once massive list of popular music channels have been significantly reduced as people turn to streaming on YouTube.
But one channel operator is seizing the opportunity to expand in the wake of the closures.
And for some viewers it’ll result in some channel number changes too.
NOW 90s & 00s will launch on Wednesday (July 3) on Sky and Virgin Media.
It will only be available on Sky’s satellite boxes for the moment, not Sky’s internet-based service Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
You may remember NOW as the compilation CD title Now That’s What I Call Music which is still released today.
The company already has a number of channels including: NOW 70s, NOW 80s, NOW ROCK and owns Clubland TV too.
There will be some channel number changes as a result on Sky satellite:
Meanwhile, NOW 90s & 00s will land on satellite channel 357.
On Virgin Media, the channel list now looks as follows:
NOW 90s and 00s is expected to fill channel 287.
From video request dial-ins to its acquisition by Channel 4, the Box has brought music to people's screens across the UK and the US for 32 years.
The Box was brought to the UK in 1992, inspired by the original Miami-based channel The Jukebox Network.
It has been rocking on the airwaves ever since.
Channel 4 bought a 50 per cent stake in the channel in 2007 for an undisclosed sum, and eventually assumed full ownership in 2019.
When it first began, fans could phone in to request music videos of their favourite genres or bands, that could be queued automatically.
Video requests cost a couple quid and took around 20 minutes to be broadcast after being ordered.
The Box has roughly 1,800 music videos in its backpocket to air to viewers in its heyday.
Viewers could even request their top music clips over the internet or via set-top box.
Since then, the channel has become well known for its “First Play” feature, where many videos often make their UK or world premiere.
