Channel 4's rebranding of its joint-venture channel with Bauer, The Hits, as 4Music was finally confirmed today.
While congratulations are in order to those readers who remember reading this first in the pages of Marketing earlier this year, what is more interesting is the reason Channel 4 has finally decided to formally announce the decision and go ahead with the change.
Initially, the rationale behind the rebadging was to extend its extant 4Music brand, which it uses for music strands on C4 and E4, was to create a music TV platform in order to promote its DAB 4Radio venture. However 4Radio has subsequently been riven with delays and uncertainty since GCap Media shut its DAB-only stations throwing the future of the platform into question.
This change shows Channel 4's commitment to DAB radio, the first stations of which are scheduled to launch this autumn. Given the grim state of the radio ad market, the poor reach of DAB-only stations and Channel 4's plea of poverty, the timing is at best odd, and at worst shows a lack of judgment.
