4Music and the death of the prime-time music video

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

For the last month or so I've been mourning the loss of Hits!TV. Since Channel 4 took it over and rebranded it, whenever I've flicked over to see some pop music videos I've been confronted by Shipwrecked: Battle Of The Idiots or some dudes with trendy haircuts talking to each other. There are NO music videos being played at prime time, only during the day (I'm at home right now and am enjoying some classic Nelly Furtado and the new Leona Lewis, hurray).

So that's the last of the freeview video channels to soundtrack the evening's washing up then (TMF never really showed videos except at weekends anyway). It's definitely meant the amount of new pop I digest properly (as opposed to a once-over on Youtube if it enters the charts) has diminished. As has the number of Ultimate Hardcore Party Classics adverts I see - I've missed seeing Cascada's face merge into Basshunter's every ad break. I'm even missing the dreadful list countdowns (Fall Out Boy's top 20 Legends Of Brat-Rock, Worst Boybands '88-'08 etc).

I know WHY they've done this of course. We've got Youtube and newfangled on-demand telly now so Shipwrecked is meant to bring back the viewers (hmmm). Perhaps it's just me? Do you lot even watch music telly at all these days? Did you ever watch it in the first place? If you pay for telly do you bother watching The Box and its ilk? Or would you prefer to watch Miquita Oliver giggling on a sofa for four hours?

Comments

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I remember when TMF started they used to play videos in the evening but now the Hits have gone exactly the same way (I suppose MTV went like this as well?)...Videos are for people dossing around at home during daytime whereas ppl coming in from work need switch your brains off entertainment (or that's how they define it -- you could say music vids are the same thing but maybe its the nature of the music video that its easy to slip in and out and NOT stay a list show, unlike a structured programme where ppl can follow? which is what advertisers may prefer but this is only guessing, maybe one of our market researchers can shed light ;-)).

Hopefully in a few months they'll get bored of parading E4 presenters and go back to video lists but I doubt it.

The Hits was made up of loads of old music videos so it was a bit of an EDUCATION as I'm a casual pop listener. Which means it was nice but I don't miss it.