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The Hits: success on Freeview to be launched on satellite and cable

Emap is to launch The Hits, the pop music channel it created for digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, on NTL, Telewest and Sky.

The move will make it the only music television channel with carriage on every digital television platform. The only other music television channel on Freeview is MTV's The Music Factory.

According to early Barb figures, the first week of Freeview's existence saw The Hits out-perform The Music Factory with an audience share of 1.5% versus 0.9% for the MTV station.

Emap has been so impressed with the performance of the channel that it has already made plans to extend the brand into radio if it wins the Scottish radio licence
for which it is bidding in the Glasgow area.

However, the success of The Hits within the more competitive environment of Sky, NTL and Telewest is by no means assured. Both cable and satellite platforms carry a number of other music channels, including Emap's own Smash! Hits, The Box and Magic, which will be direct competitors to The Hits.

Early viewing patterns at Freeview have thrown up some unexpected figures across the board, including an 8.2% share for Channel 5 over Channel 4's 7.8% share. The most popular non-terrestrial channel on Freeview is BBC kids' channel, Cbeebies, aimed at pre-school children.

The accuracy of these figures from a Barb sample of just 200 Freeview homes is not guaranteed. However, the popularity of The Hits on digital terrestrial, which is predicted to take the majority of analogue customers digital over the next eight years, is a positive sign.

"We hope that The Hits will grow the market, like our other music channel launches before it," said a spokesman for Emap. "It's aimed at a broader audience than either The Box or Smash! Hits."