4Music

About 4Music

Overview

4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008 as a replacement for The Hits, it originally showed a mix of music and entertainment programming before transitioning to a full-time music channel in June 2022. The channel closed on 30 June 2024, along with its sister Channel 4 music channels, as part of the broadcaster's digital-first strategy. It was available in the UK and Ireland on Sky and Virgin Media.

The channel's history spans the final era of linear music television in Britain, from the height of the music channel boom to the closure of Channel 4's entire Box Plus music portfolio.

Launch as a music and entertainment channel

4Music launched on 15 August 2008 with a ten-minute on-screen countdown featuring clips from popular music videos, going live at 7pm. It replaced The Hits, and its launch was marked by live coverage of the 2008 V Festival on 16 and 17 August, with highlights on subsequent days.

The original channel showed a mix of music videos and entertainment programming, including Channel 4 archive comedy and series. It was part of The Box Plus Network, the joint venture between Channel 4 and Bauer Media that operated The Box, Kiss, Magic, Kerrang! and the other music channels.

The Box Plus Network years

4Music operated within The Box Plus Network, which had grown out of The Box, the pioneering video-jukebox channel that launched on cable in 1992. Channel 4 took an equal stake in the joint venture with Bauer's Emap broadcasting business, and in 2019 took full control of the network.

The channel's on-air identity evolved over the years, with new graphics in September 2017 built around four squares forming the 4Music logo, and a 2018 rebrand adding the Channel 4 logo mark. Its sister channels included The Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!, all targeting different music audiences.

Transition to full-time music

On 29 June 2022, 4Music's original channel slot was taken by E4 Extra, Channel 4's new comedy-focused extension of E4. Rather than closing, 4Music moved to the slot formerly occupied by Box Hits, transitioning back to a full-time music channel and dropping the entertainment programming, which moved to E4 Extra.

The move meant 4Music was no longer available on Freeview, but it continued on Sky and Virgin Media as a music-only service. The relaunch returned the channel to its music television roots after years of mixed programming.

Closure announcement

On 29 January 2024, Channel 4 announced that 4Music and its sister channels would close later in the year as part of its Fast Forward strategy, which aims to make the broadcaster a digital-first public service streamer by 2030. The company said the Box channels were no longer of sufficient scale to deliver meaningful return on investment.

The announcement reflected the generational shift in music viewing, with audiences moving to streaming platforms and social media. Channel 4 said its strategy involved reducing costs in linear activities to invest in digital priorities.

Final broadcast

4Music closed on 30 June 2024, along with The Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!. Its final music video was reported as "Raise Your Glass" by Pink. The closure ended 16 years of broadcasting under the 4Music name and marked the end of Channel 4's linear music television portfolio.

The five channels were removed from satellite and cable, having already been removed from Channel 4's online service the previous year. Their closure was described as the end of an era for British music television.

Legacy

4Music's closure, together with its sister channels, closed a chapter in British broadcasting that stretched back to The Box's launch in 1992. The music channels had been a defining feature of the multichannel era, giving generations of viewers their first exposure to new music.

The channel's move to a full-time music format in its final two years was a return to the genre's television roots, even as the economics of linear music channels became unsustainable. Channel 4's music output now lives on through its streaming and social media platforms.

The Box Plus family

4Music operated within The Box Plus Network, a family of music channels with roots stretching back to The Box, the pioneering video-jukebox channel that launched on cable television in 1992. The Box allowed viewers to select videos by phone, a novel interactive concept that made it a defining channel of the early multichannel era.

The network grew when the media company Emap acquired The Box in the late 1990s and launched it on satellite alongside the new channels Kerrang!, Kiss, Magic and The Hits. Emap later sold its broadcasting business to Bauer Media in 2007, and Channel 4 took an equal stake in the joint venture that became The Box Plus Network, launching 4Music to replace The Hits in 2008. Channel 4 took full control of the business in 2019, bringing all of the music channels under its ownership. The network's channels each targeted a distinct audience, with The Box playing current hits, Kerrang! serving rock fans, Kiss covering dance and urban music, and Magic playing pop classics.

Channel 4's digital-first future

The decision to close 4Music was announced on 29 January 2024 as part of Channel 4's Fast Forward strategy, which aims to accelerate the broadcaster's transformation into what it calls a digital-first public service streamer by 2030. The strategy reflected the generational shift in television viewing, as audiences, particularly younger viewers, moved from linear channels to streaming platforms and social media.

Channel 4 said the Box channels were no longer of sufficient scale to deliver a meaningful return on investment, and that its strategy involved reducing costs in linear activities to allow investment in digital priorities. The announcement confirmed the end of the road for a portfolio of channels that had been central to British music television for three decades.

The end of linear music television

4Music closed on 30 June 2024, along with The Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!, ending 16 years of broadcasting under the 4Music name. The five channels had already been removed from Channel 4's online streaming service the previous year, and their removal from satellite and cable completed the shutdown of the broadcaster's linear music portfolio.

The closures marked the end of an era for British music television. From The Box's launch in 1992, the music channels had given generations of viewers their first exposure to new artists and provided a platform for genres from rock and metal to hip-hop and dance. Their decline mirrored the wider collapse of linear music television as music discovery moved to streaming services, video platforms and social media, where Channel 4's music output now lives on. The channel's EPG slots on satellite and cable were released to other services, closing the book on a portfolio that had been part of Britain's multichannel landscape for over thirty years.

Availability and archive

4Music is no longer broadcasting. During its lifetime it was available on Sky and Virgin Media in the UK and Ireland, and for a period on Freeview and Freesat. Information about the former channel remains available through Channel 4's corporate pages at channel4.com.

The Box Plus Network's closure in June 2024 ended the broadcast run of all five of Channel 4's music channels, with their EPG slots released to other services.