Living With The Box (The Box)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	The Box
Date:	14/10/02 (368 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: no presenters, more choices than some of the other channels

Disadvantages: ridiculous call charges, Boxstars sucks

The rise of Digital Television has resulted in a number of things: greater choice, greater value for money, and an impossibility to avoid that man who sells blenders. One area where it has probably had greatest impact is in music television. People with Sky can now see a total of 13 music which are on tap 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MTV, MTV Hits, VH1, VH1 Classic, MTV-2, MTV Base, MTV Dance, The Box, Kiss, Smash Hits, Q, Kerrang and The Chart Show all pump out the songs with their own unique selling points and playlists.

One of the oldest channels is 'The Box' (channel 449 for Sky viewers), which caters mainly for under 18's and plays mostly chart pop music. Think Britney Spears and Blazing Squad rather than Bryan Adams and Black Sabbath?

The Box were the first channel to entirely have their playlist chosen by the general public - the audience rings up to request the video that they'd like to see using the three digit number unique to each track. The number will flash up on screen every time a viewer makes a selection, and eventually the song requested will be played.

At any one time, there are usually 80 or 90 songs to choose from. Most of the songs are either in the charts or about to be released, and the channel always has exclusives of new videos before or at the same time as other channels. A couple of old tracks are also occassionally put up for selection to (best sellers = more popular = more people ringing = greater call earnings for channel owners).

If you want to have a hit record, invariably you need to have rotation on The Box. Although the diversity available in Music TV nowadays means that the channel may not be quite as instrumental in breaking new acts as it used to be, the level of rotation that a video has on The Box can often be a good barometer to its real chart position when it is released. The Box can be credited to helping the likes of Billie Piper and A1 make it big. Thanks
for that.

Talking of charts, one of the features that the channel has is a Top 10 of most requested videos that is played every hour or two. Usually a video will reach the chart as soon as it is placed for rotation before falling as people get bored of it. Although we only get to see the Top 10, a full chart featuring every video is placed on www.thebox.co.uk . Currently, it is headed by Nelly & Kelly's lame ballad 'Dilemma' , whilst bringing up the rear is 'Grace' by Supergrass, despite it reaching the Top 15 a few weeks ago. The latter's position demonstrates in the Box chart that Britpop acts deemed past their prime aren't really what The Box is all about?

Another feature is the lamentable cash in on the Pop Stars/Idols/Rivals bandwagon - Boxstars. This allows the viewers to ring up and do karaoke - the 'best' and worst are then heard miming on screen to the video of the week's chosen song. Surely no one wants this on the channel?! Of course, calls cost 75p a minute (the same amount as voting for a song), which means that it's very lucrative for the channel?

Perhaps the main criticisms of The Box is its repetitive nature - the playlist is a tad limited compared to channels which play an unfixed selection such as MTV Dance or MTV Base. However, it does offer more variety and choice than other pure request channels like Q and Smash Hits.

It does also a limited genre - out and out pop makes up about 90% of the playlist, although the odd nu-metal track can also be found on there too. You do get a nice selection of new tracks, and each week between 5 and 8 tracks are added to the list, and a few are taken off. Some last longer than others, and the unpopular will sometimes get ditched within a week or two if no-one is selecting them?

I think that I'm probably a little bit too old for The Box now, and I find it hard to watch it a lot of the time, especially when th
e latest non-entity identikit boyband or girlband are on. However, like most people with Sky Digital, whenever I'm watching the music channels, the best thing to do is just sit back and flick over when something better is on the other side rather than sticking with the same station the whole time.

Recommended for children and lovers of pop, but if you're looking for something a bit more diverse and challenging, it's probably best to go elsewhere - may I recommend the man who sells blenders...

Summary: