Trace Urban (UK and Ireland)
Trace Urban (formerly Chart Show TV) is a British free-to-air music channel owned by Trace Group.
| Trace Urban | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Launched | 16 September 2002 |
| Owned by | Trace Group |
| Picture format | 16:9 576i SDTV |
| Audience share | 0.03% (September 2018, BARB) |
| Slogan | "We Are Urban Music" |
| Formerly called | Chart Show TV (2002–19) |
| Sister channel(s) | Trace Vault |
| Website | Chart Show TV |
Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky | Channel 364 |
| Astra 2F (28.2°E) | 11344 H 27500 5/6 |
| Cable | |
| WightFibre | Channel 94 |
History
Chart Show TV launched on 16 September 2002 and initially consisted of several different charts, mimicking the format of the television show upon which it was based. However, many of these were dropped and the channel started showing music videos.
The channel broadcast in 4:3 from its launch but switched to 16:9 on 4 February 2008. All of CSC Media Group's other music channels have also switched to 16:9 broadcasting. A new website for Chart Show TV is also under development since its sister channels have had new websites launched.
On 5 January 2012, Chart Show TV +1 launched, replacing NME TV. The temporary channel was replaced by BuzMuzik on 30 May 2012.[1][2]
On 1 May 2014, Chart Show TV got a new look with a .tv screen (with 'chart show' being only seen at the beginning of a music video, not to be confused with the defunct channel .tv, which closed in 2001). However, Chart Show Dance continued to have the old look until 13 June 2014.
CSC Media Group announced the launch of Chart Show TV Romania in 2018. The programming is the same as Chart Show TV UK.
In December 2018, Trace Group acquired Chart Show TV from Sony Pictures Television.[3]
On 1 November 2019, Chart Show TV was rebranded as Trace Urban following Trace's takeover of Sony's music channels. The last song to be played before the rebrand was "Big for Your Boots" by Stormzy but was cut halfway through the song similarly to the sister channels' changes. The channel introduced blocks from former sister channels Starz TV and Trace Latina on 1 June 2020.
Freeview
On 8 May 2014, Chart Show TV was launched on Freeview, on channel 67. It became a placeholder on 3 September 2014 along with the Freeview retune, and was removed from Freeview on all regions, including London, except in Manchester on 8 September.
It was removed from Manchester Freeview in November 2017, and was replaced with sister channel Trace Vault.
Programming
- Chart Show Chat - Music and interviews with artists and groups, presented by Stefanie Faleo.
- Chart Show's Top 20/40 Singles Chart - A weekly countdown of the top 20/40 singles with James Barr.
- Global Hits! - The world's biggest hits throughout the early breakfast hours.
- New Music Now! - The latest songs added to the Chart Show TV playlist.
- Pop Quiz, Let's Test ya! - A selection of pop music-related questions whilst showing the latest pop music videos.
- Request - An interactive show where a set of 4 songs at a time can be chosen by tweeting the relevant hashtag, the hashtag with the most votes is then played next and this process is repeated. Show was previously on Bliss and then Chart Show Dance.
- Top 20 Urban Chart Rollers - 20 biggest urban tracks of the week.
- Top 20 US Single Chart - Songs that are in position 20 to 1 on the week's US Single Chart.
On-air identity
As Chart Show TV, the logo was on screen in the top left-hand corner during music videos. The song information appeared in a moving equalizer type graphic at the start and near the end of each music video. The same graphics are also used for the new Singles, Urban, Dance and Download Charts. The channel's identity was also seen before and after advert breaks when the Chart Show TV logo spinned in the centre of the screen. On 14 May 2013, the onscreen identity in the top left hand side of the screen had the headphones removed.
Upon rename to Trace Urban, the idents are similar to Trace Vault and formerly Trace Latina, but with a shade of orange, reflecting the channel's logo. In early 2020, the Trace-branded channels and Starz TV had their top right corner graphics removed.
Chart Show TV's
first logo
(2002-08)
Chart Show TV's
second logo
(2008-14)
References
- "NME TV to close 5th January". Entertainment Interactive. 3 January 2012.
- "Chart Show +1 skončil. Odstartoval BuzMuzik" (in Czech). Parabola. 30 May 2012.
- "Trace acquires UK music channels from Sony Pictures Television". Broadband TV News. 13 December 2018.