[frasergj]

Because basically they don't know how fill the breaks otherwise?

They could promote C4 shows more heavily, maybe they do, but last time they didn't , and the Box channels were still treated as "separate companies"

I saw a trailer for Popmaster on More4 earlier this week but that's the only one - whenever I'm watching it's just promos for the channels themselves (seem to be 2 versions for Magic plus ones for The Box, Kiss and Kerrang, I'm sure there was one for 4Music at some point too which might be running somewhere too)

Today is the last day for regular programming on The Box - a nostalgia channel from tomorrow. I suspect we'll see those little from-to bugs from tomorrow too.

Hopefully some of the channels get archived to YouTube before closure too - quite fond of those idents on Magic, very classy and on brand.

[BlueFrog]

Just flicked onto The Box to find there is no logo onscreen. The song titles and programme title graphics are still present - there is no DOG nor transition animation.

[frasergj]

Just flicked onto The Box to find there is no logo onscreen. The song titles and programme title graphics are still present - there is no DOG nor transition animation.

Both the DOG and transitions returned at 6am, now using old Box ident instead of the usual one though.

First track after 6am was Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There followed by Akon, seems to be a mix of old and new so far.

[James2001]

The farewell programme is itself nothing exciting, just various overplayed music videos with a voiceover linking them. No old idents or clips or anything, which I'm sure they could have dug out.

[TVenthusiasm]

Here's the special ident and break bumper used on the Box since 6am this morning.

www.youtube.com 

www.youtube.com 

[WillPS]

The farewell programme is itself nothing exciting, just various overplayed music videos with a voiceover linking them. No old idents or clips or anything, which I'm sure they could have dug out.

They're already putting in a great deal more effort to signing out than we've seen from any of their erstwhile competitors.

Worth bearing in mind that the people putting these efforts together will either be facing big changes to their jobs or worse. Quite possibly limping to the end with reduced head count. We've no right to really expect anything.

If any of them are reading this, good luck and thank you.

[WillPS]

Sorry for the doublepost. When did the 7-9am music strand on E4 Extra finish?

Something else I've been wondering - why was the 4music brand kept and slapped on Box Hits in 2022 when the 'proper' 4music became E4 Extra?

It seems odd that they kept the brand alive when presumably it has been known internally for some years now that these channels are on the way out. I wonder if there was/is a desire to keep the 4music brand warm - easy to forget now but the brand significantly predates Channel 4's interest in music video channels (not going to post links to pre-2008 idents because I'm not sure if they'll fall foul of the site's rules - but they're out there if you search for them).

[Brekkie]

It's been gone at least a year. Agree it was odd to keep the brand alive and quite clear now with them closing there is much more love for the BOX brand than 4Music, which I guess tainted it's own brand by running so much non-music content in it's latter years.

[Transmission]

They're already putting in a great deal more effort to signing out than we've seen from any of their erstwhile competitors.

Worth bearing in mind that the people putting these efforts together will either be facing big changes to their jobs or worse. Quite possibly limping to the end with reduced head count. We've no right to really expect anything.

If any of them are reading this, good luck and thank you.

Indeed. I worked on these channels years ago and the team were one of the best clients I've worked with, a great bunch of people who were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about what they did.

[lhx1985]

I don't think Channel 4 has been the best keeper for the box channels. Always got the impression that they were interested in The Hits, or rather LCN18 on Freeview - and the rest of the network was just a means to an end.

While obviously run on a shoestring by EMAP, every channel in the portfolio used to get new graphics at least every year. Promos and trails were swapped out weekly and care was put into the curation of the playlists.

They felt looked after.

Under 4, I don't think Kerrang has had a lick of paint in years. Magic and 4music too.

Also don't think moving playout from a windows PC in a cupboard to Red Bee would have helped the channels remain profitable. Nor the radio-on-TV programmes with presented segues between tracks.