The Hits was a
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...
broadcast in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, owned by
Box Television
The Box Plus Network (formerly Video Jukebox Network International Ltd and Box Television Ltd) was a British television company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation, and specialising in music programming. Channel Four acquired a 50% sh ...
. On 15 August 2008 it was rebranded as
4Music
4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...
.
Overview and availability
The channel showcased a range of
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
centred on chart hits and current favourites. Originally, the vast majority of music videos were selected by viewers by means of calling a
premium-rate telephone number
Premium-rate telephone numbers are telephone numbers that charge callers higher price rates for select services, including information and entertainment. A portion of the call fees is paid to the service provider, allowing premium calls to be an ...
, however the policy was abandoned with the channel playing an
automated
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
selection of videos and
countdown
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
shows presented by celebrities and singers past and present. Programming was often themed to coincide with events such as
St. Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...
and
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
.
The channel was available
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
on the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...
service
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
*Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
*Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), a ...
on channel 18. It was also available on
Sky Digital, encrypted as a part of Sky's Music Pack. The Hits was also available on
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...
and was included in the basic package. It was also able to be seen through the
British Forces Broadcasting Service
The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themsel ...
.
Programmes on The Hits
87-07 was a series of programmes where a song was played from each of the years from 1987 to 2007. There was a more up to date version called 88-08 which went from 1988 to 2008. There were different collections of songs depending on different things that the songs had in common, an example of 87-07 is Cheesy Pop 87-07 which includes the songs "
Never Gonna Give You Up
"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a pop song by English singer Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. The song is widely regarded as Astley's most popular, as well as his List of signature songs, signature song, and it is often played at the end o ...
" by
Rick Astley
Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, radio DJ and podcaster. He gained fame through his association with the production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, releasing the 1987 album ''Whenever You Need Somebody'', which sol ...
, "
Saturday Night Saturday Night may refer to:
Film, television and theatre Film
* ''Saturday Night'' (1922 film), a 1922 film directed by Cecil B. DeMille
* ''Saturday Nights'' (film), a 1933 Swedish film directed by Schamyl Bauman
* ''Saturday Night'' (1950 fil ...
" by
Whigfield
Whigfield is an Italian dance act fronted by Danish singer, former model, songwriter, and record producer Sannie Charlotte Carlson (born 11 April 1970), known by her various stage names, including Whigfield, Sannie, or simply Naan. She is best ...
and "
C'est la Vie" by
B*Witched
B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002 ...
which are all commonly regarded as "cheesy pop songs".
Another type of programme on The Hits was where one hundred songs are played, usually counting down to a song that was featured as "number one". This varies from ''100 Forgotten Gems of the Nineties'' to ''The Nation's Favourite Love Songs''. Similarly formatted programmes with fifty or twenty songs were also broadcast.
''The Hits Chart'' was played at around 12.15 and 17:15 Monday-Friday. The Hits Chart was simply a countdown of the biggest songs of the day.
The Hits had a programme called ''Every Number One of the Nineties'' which, as the title suggests, played every number one of the nineties back to back. It was played over a
bank holiday weekend in two parts, the first part on the Sunday and the second part on the Monday. ''Every Number One of the Nineties'' has been played on 4Music in small segments. A similar programme was ''Every Number One of the Twenty-first Century''.
Early in the morning, there was a programme called "Signed by The Hits". This programme's duration was usually 30 minutes. The programme involved a sign language interpreter signing to the songs on screen to help deaf people understand the music. Due to persistent criticism, the show was removed.
Replacement with 4Music
On 20 February 2008, it was announced that The Hits would change its name to 4Music later in the year, and a trial period broadcast on Sundays under the 4Music banner was broadcast on Sunday evenings during the spring. In June 2008 it was further announced that this replacement was to take place during the
V Festival
V Festival, often referred to as V Fest or simply V, was an annual music festival held in the United Kingdom during the third weekend in August. The event was held at two parks simultaneously which shared the same bill; artists performed at one ...
weekend on 15 August. The replaced station shows predominantly music videos, alongside live performances and
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
programming like ''
Star Stories
''Star Stories'' was a British television comedy programme that took a satirical look at celebrities and their lives, in the manner of the satirical cartoon Great Pop Things, to which it bears a strong resemblance. It was first shown on Channel ...
'' and ''
The Sunday Night Project
''The Sunday Night Project'' is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title ''The Friday Night Project''. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday n ...
'', in addition to documentaries about artists.
In the weeks before the launch,
4Music
4Music was a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. Launched on 15 August 2008, the original incarnation, replacing The Hits television channel, showed a mix of music and entertainment pr ...
aired teaser trailers for the channel as part of its extensive promotion of the rebrand and as part of the promotion one of the three stages for ''T4 On The Beach'' was named the 4Music stage.
The Hits stopped broadcasting music videos on Friday 15 August 2008 at 06:00. The last video played on The Hits was "
Thank You for the Music
"Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album, '' The Album'' (1977), and was released as a double-A sided single with "Eagle" in May 1978 in limited territories ...
" by
ABBA
ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...
, before heading in to a
promo
PROMO (Promoting Missouri) is a Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territ ...
for 4Music, which would be launched from 19:00.
Ofcom controversy
In November 2007,
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-rang ...
found The Hits had breached its broadcast licence for failing to retain copies of its programming. Two viewers had complained questioning the authenticity of some of the winning entries on text-in quiz programme ''Win Win TV'', broadcast overnight on 26 June.
The broadcaster was unable to provide Ofcom with a review copy of the programme in question because of "problems with its logging system". Condition 11 of a Television Licensable Content Service licence requires the broadcaster to keep recordings of all output for 60 days after transmission, providing Ofcom with any material on request.
"Failure to supply these recordings is a serious and significant breach of the broadcaster’s licence. This will be held on record," the regulator noted.
The Hits Radio
In 2003, companion radio station The Hits Radio was launched. It ceased broadcasting on 4 June 2018.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hits, The
Bauer television channels
Defunct music video networks
Defunct television channels in the United Kingdom
Music video networks in the United Kingdom
Television channels and stations established in 2002
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2008