The Box (TV channel)

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The Box
Launched	April 1992
Owned by	EMAP
Audience share	0.1% (Jan '06, Source:[1])
Website	www.thebox.co.uk
Availability
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 349
Cable
NTL:Telewest	Channel 335

The Box is a television channel in the United Kingdom which mostly plays music videos, although it also features some music-related programming. Currently owned by Emap, it runs off profits made from music video selections, which are made by the viewers using premium rate phone lines, as well as the small fees from BSkyB for being an encrypted channel. Each week a new playlist is released, and this will generally contain new or current music videos. The playlist is published on Teletext and the channel's website.

The channel is well-known for its First Play feature, where many videos often make their UK or world première, and is available on cable and satellite. Most notably they were recognized as the galvanizing force behind the huge success of the first Spice Girls hit "Wannabe" launching the girls in to mega stardom.

The motto of The Box is "Big Hits First" — previous mottos include "Music Television You Control" and "Smash Hits You Control".

Until 1998, the channel was cable only, with the channel being run directly from each cable company's headend, meaning there were several different versions of The Box around the country. At this time, The Box was also broadcast on the Astra Satellite during the downtime of Granada Plus and Men & Motors. The channel launched on Sky Digital in 1998, and from 1999, all the regional versions of The Box were shut down and replaced with this version.

Notably, for a brief period in late 1999 and early 2000, there was a trend of artists namechecking The Box in their music videos, though the practice wasn't widespread. In most cases, this was simply an insertion of the logo at some point in the regular video, however in a few cases, the channel was actually namechecked by the artists themselves. The most notable example of this is the video for S Club Party, which also had an exteneded opening and closing not seen on other music channels. These versions are no longer seen.

1 Compilation Albums
2 US Channel
3 Dutch channel
4 External link

[edit] Compilation Albums

The Box's compilation albums were originally released by Telstar Records, before the brand was shifted over to Universal TV.

[edit] US Channel

The channel also existed in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, but was eventually purchased by Viacom and merged into MTV2. The channel was initially a product of the Miami Music scene, hosted by local Miami Bass rappers known as Miami Boyz. The Box is a shortened term as the channel was originally named Video Jukebox.

Founder and former owner Steve Peters began a short-lived record label from the earnings of Video Jukebox entitled Peter's Records, but despite having his foot in the local Miami Bass scene, and employing Hip-Hop producers form abroad, he never managed to find a hit record and ended the label before The Box was sold. Some cities in the U.S. had terrestrial (over-the-air) transmitters for The Box and later MTV2, but many have now been sold off as of 2005.

[edit] Dutch channel

The channel also exists in the Netherlands. In 2002, it was purchased by Viva Media AG. In 2004, Viva Media on its turn was purchased by Viacom. Since then, the channel is part of MTV Networks Benelux. The channel still mainly focuses on music videos, but it also broadcasts other programs such as the sitcoms Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Clueless and 15/Love.