Daily Mail: Channel 4 reveals closure of five beloved channels

Story from Daily Mail:

Channel 4 has announced the closure of five of its channels as the broadcaster struggles with cost-saving cuts.

The channel have axed a string of shows this year and revealed back in January their plans to make hundreds of staff redundant.

The broadcaster will also leave their London HQ, the Horseferry Road office, which Channel 4 have been based out of since 1994, and find a new office elsewhere in London. ruggles with cost-saving cuts.

And now the five digital channels to close down have been revealed as The Box music channels 4Music, The Box, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!

The channels will close down at the end of June and will disappear on all available platforms, such as Sky and Virgin Media (Also Freesat).

A spokesperson for Channel 4 told The Sun: 'As we announced earlier this year as part of Channel 4's digital-first Fast Forward strategy, we will be closing our Box network of channels from 1 July across all platforms - as they are no longer of sufficient scale to deliver meaningful return on investment.

'Our strategy reflects the generational shift in TV viewing and involves reducing costs – particularly in linear activities - to allow us to invest in digital priorities and stay competitive in a world of global entertainment conglomerates and social media giants.'

The channel has been forced to cancel a handful of programmes recently, including SAS: Who Dares Wins and Steph's Packed Lunch, as part of efforts to reduce costs.

Danny Dyer's popular show Scared of the Dark has also been axed after just one series despite its huge success.

The experimental TV show asked a whole host of famous faces to live in complete darkness for a week as they were tasked with various challenges.

Former footballer Paul Gascoigne was crowned the series winner after living eight days in complete darkness as he beat Love Island's Chloe Burrows, ex boxer Chris Eubank and comedian Chris McCausland in the competition.

Despite raking in more than a million viewers, Channel 4 has decided against it returning for a second series, according to Deadline.

Meanwhile Channel 4's Hollyoaks will also have fewer episodes airing each week from September.

The soap, which airs on streaming, E4 and YouTube will go down from five episodes per week to three.

The channel said that they were making the change because it is the 'optimum pattern to keep heartland audiences hooked and attract new ones in a highly saturated content market' based on Channel 4 data.

They claim that their research shows that most regular soap viewers watch an average of three episodes per week.

However, the production company for the soap, Lime Pictures, says the decision will lead to 'very difficult' job losses among the cast and crew.

MDs of Lime Pictures, Kate Little and Claire Poyser, said: 'Given the success of the new streaming-first model, we are delighted that Hollyoaks remains at the forefront of Channel 4’s digital first strategy, bringing authentic, unexpected and untold stories that inspire younger audiences in a way that they want to consume them.

'Evidently there are implications that will mean we have to reshape Hollyoaks’ production model and amidst the buoying news for the future of the show and its audience, we must also acknowledge that a reduction in cast and crew, will be very difficult and we will support everyone in that process.'

Chief content officer at Channel 4, Ian Katz, said that the broadcaster plans to work with the Lime Pictures 'to minimise the impacts where possible'.

Speaking about the schedule change, he said: 'Hollyoaks is on sparkling creative form at the moment and these changes will ensure it remains compulsive viewing for a new generation of fans as viewing habits change.

'The show has always been at the forefront of innovation in all of its forms, including increasing and decreasing episode numbers in response to viewing habits.

'These changes are a decisive step forward, designed to reflect how audiences are watching. A tighter schedule promises a new era of more scale and impact.'

Ian continued: 'We are of course mindful of the impacts on the production team and will work closely with Lime Pictures to minimise these where possible.'