[Keith]

Interesting the wording from C4 in that article states the channels will "soon be unprofitable" rather than that already being the case. Of course it's better to take action before it's too late but if they currently still are profitable you'd think a sale would be preferred, but suspect there is nobody out there willing to buy now.

I suspect part of the issue is that for some of the channels they're paying a fee to use the brand names for the channels.

It could be that the cost of renewing those licences is not worth it, especially if Channel 4 weren't able to pay to use the names for just one or two years. There's also the presumably separate cost to artists/labels for playing their music. It may be that they pay a fixed fee regardless of how many music channels they have. In which case the cost is easier to justify if spread across multiple channels, rather than just one or two.