THE BOX (TV CHANNEL)

'The Box' is a television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland which mostly plays music videos, although it also features some music-related programming. Co-founded in the United Kingdom by Vincent Monsey (of Radio Caroline fame) and his partner Liz Laskowski, who discovered the channel in Miami in 1991 as The Jukebox Network. The U.K. company, Video Jukebox Network International Ltd., was formed in 1991 and the channel was launched in 1992 as THE BOX in the early days of cable television on cable operators United Artist Telewest in London and Bristol, and Videotron, also in London. THE BOX "rolled out" across the United Kingdom on every cable system available, and eventually onto Sky Digital satellite in 1998. THE BOX was also broadcast on the Astra Satellite during the downtime of Granada Plus and Men & Motors. From 1999, all the regional versions of The Box were shut down and replaced with this version.
Ticketmaster Inc. briefly owned 50% of the company before becoming a public company on the stock exchange. EMAP took ownership of these shares in 1997, and purchased the shareholding held by the American company VJN Inc. which had then become TCI Music. The U.K. company is 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, THE BOX, particularly Laskowski and Monsey, were recognized as the galvanizing force behind the huge success of the first Spice Girls hit "Wannabe" launching the girls into mega stardom, and playing their first single months before its official release date. The channel was also known for the wide variety of music from all genres and for offering up to 500 videos per week during the period before EMAP's involvement, and particularly for introducing Rap and Hip Hop music onto the UK music scene.
The motto of THE BOX is "Big Hits First" — previous mottos include "Music Television You Control" and "Smash Hits You Control".
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 extended opening and closing not seen on other music channels. These versions are no longer seen.

Contents

Compilation Albums

Selcetion Numbers

US Channel

Dutch channel

External link

Compilation Albums

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

Selcetion Numbers

50 Cent ft. Justin and TimbalandAyo Technology120 Aly and AJPotential Breakup Song302 Amy MacDonaldMr Rock And Roll177 Amy WinehouseTears Dry On Their Own106 Armand Van HeldenI Want Your Soul132 AxwellI Found U107 BeyonceGreen Light (Freemasons Mix)803 Bloc PartyHunting For Witches149 Booty LuvDon't Mess With My Man142 DaughtryIt's Not Over807 David GuettaLove Is Gone927 EditorsAn End Has A Start123 Enrique IglesiasTired Of Being Sorry146 EveTambourine645 Foo FightersThe Pretender300 FreaksThe Creeps129 GabrielleWhy111 Girls AloudSexy! No No No152 GoldspotFriday926 GraceSink Like A Stone118 Gym Class HeroesClothes Off104 Hard FiSuburban Knights116 HelloGoodbyeBaby It's Fact124 Hi TackLet's Dance140 Ida Corr vs Fedde Le GrandLet Me Think About It303 InfernalTen Miles113 Jack PenateSecond Minute Or Hour307 James Blunt1973141 Jamie Scott And The TownWhen Will I See Your Face143 Justin NozukaMr Therapy139 Kanye WestStronger952 Kate NashMouthwash306 KT TunstallHold On109 Leann RimesNothin Better To Do343 Linkin ParkBleed It Out128 Lucky TwiceLucky126 Madina LakeHere I Stand546 Mark Ronson ft. Lily AllenOh My God606 Maroon 5Wake Up Call121 Martijn Ten VeldenI Wish U Would304 MimsLike This127 My Chemical RomanceTeenagers138 Natalie ImbrugliaGlorious136 Newton FaulknerDream Catch Me648 ParamoreMisery Business144 Plain White T'sHey There Delila105 R Kelly ft. UsherSame Girl102 Remi NicoleGo Mr Sunshine147 Reverend and The MakersHe Said He Loved Me133 RihannaShut Up and Drive110 Robin ThickeWanna Love U Girl305 RobynWith Every Heartbeat994 RooneyWhen Did Your Heart Go Missing?148 Scouting For GirlsShe's So Lovely119 Sean KingstonBeautiful Girls112 Shayne WardIf That's OK With You987 Sonny JCan't Stop Moving125 SoundsPainted By Numbers130 The EnemyYou're Not Alone145 The HoosiersWorried About Ray986 TravisMy Eyes301 White StripesYou Don't Know What Love Is137 Will.I.AmI Got It From My Mama122 Yves La RockRise Up802

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 'The Jukebox Network'.
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 from 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.

Dutch channel

The channel existed in Argentina, Puerto Rico, Italy and the Netherlands. In 2002, the Dutch channel 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 focused on music videos, but it also broadcasted other programs such as the sitcoms ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'', ''Clueless'' and ''15/Love''. Since December 1, 2006, The Box shares its channel with Nickelodeon. In the evening, it broadcasts comedy series such as ''South Park'' and ''Da Ali G Show''. On April 30 2007, The Box was transformed into the Dutch version of Comedy Central.

External link

★ The Box