[WillPS]

I think that is their speculation but it is really odd how they're kept at arms length, but don't seem to be something they want to either integrate more or sell off. Presumably they're at least paying for themselves or even profitable otherwise they'd have long been got rid of. You'd imagine they'd try and sell them first rather than just shut them, but I guess they view that as a short sighted option which may bring in a little bit of revenue in the short term but removes income in the long term.

I don't expect there's much of a demand on the market for such an operation any longer. Possibly the 'Box' brand has some value but that's it really.

The last such change of hands was from CSC to Trace, and the omens from that are not good (even adjusting for the hubris enthused deletion of most of the stuff that made the CSC channels relatively popular).

[Brekkie]

Yes, agree that ship has probably sailed.

I do think though C4 streaming wise is getting left behind though - it may have rebranded last year but nothing really changed in terms of functionality and as well as the 4Music and BOX channels not being added they've not made any inroads into the FAST market too other than a recent MAFS channel.

[TMD_24]

Box Channels are closing later this year as part of the Channel 4 cuts.

x.com 

[Kunst]

That was pretty unavoidable, wasn't it?

Maybe leaving 4Music could work? Probably not

[Rex]

Box Channels are closing later this year as part of the Channel 4 cuts.

x.com 

Figured that they were the first ones to be culled with the cuts, but they've also warned that further channels will be cut at the 'right time'. The Box channels do not meet Channel 4's 'public value or scale' criteria for well-documented reasons, hence their impending closure.

Feels like even some of the current services like 4seven and the timeshifts will end up being closed in the long term too, alongside the eventual need to convert the HD channels to FTA and closing SD simulcasts. At the very least, E4 and Film4 should be kept running but for the rest of the C4 branded channels it's just a matter of which one goes at this point.

[WillPS]

I was about to ask - if the Box channels lose money, why have they been held on to for so long - but thinking about it, it's probably a case of them just recently (perhaps not yet but imminently) dipping below the line of profitability.

At the very least, E4 and Film4 should be kept running but for the rest of the C4 branded channels it's just a matter of which one goes at this point.

Interested - what makes Film4 more worthy from your perspective? Of all their channels, Film4 is perhaps the one which any so-minded channel operator could potentially do.

I appreciate that Film4 Productions is a different beast but there's no reason Channel 4 need a 7 day full-time FTA film station to support that; Film4 Productions account for an absolutely tiny amount of the channel's output.

[rick]

Channel 4 never needed so many spin-offs and sister channels, (in fairness, most networks don't but that's another discussion for another thread), so I could see 4 Seven, More 4 and E4 Extra going at this rate along with the +1s for those channels that are being kept. The content from those can be funnelled back into C4, E4 and Film 4. I think 4 Music will also go with the Box channels instead of being kept separately.

If anything, an upside of this from a viewer perspective is that we might finally get the Channel 4 family of channels (well, whatever's left of it) in HD FTA.

[AJB39]

Box Channels are closing later this year as part of the Channel 4 cuts.

x.com 

I’m wondering do the Box Channels include Kiss, Kerrang and Magic?

[rick]

Well, they are (were) all part of the Bauer network of channels that Channel 4 now fully own, so I would imagine that if they are closing "The Box channels" that would mean all 4 (heh) of them.

[frasergj]

I suspect that Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang will go first as they are not 4 branded. Not sure if they still run Box Africa but I assume that'll be going too.

Still sad to see them go.

They do have the Box brand so no reason why we couldn't see a FAST channel spun up using it.

Here is the press release from C4 though:
www.channel4.com 

Channel 4 shares plans to become digital-first public service streamer by 2030 |…
Channel 4 today unveiled an ambitious five-year strategy to reshape the organisa…
  Source: www.channel4.com