| Box Upfront | |
| Launch Date: | 3 July 2012 |
| Closed Date: | 9 January 2020 |
| Owner: | The Box Plus Network (Channel Four Television Corporation) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Replaced: | Q |
| Former Names: | Heat (2012–2016) |
Box Upfront was a British music video television channel owned by The Box Plus Network. It launched on 3 July 2012 as Heat and was originally based on the magazine of the same name. The channel replaced Q.[1]
The channel featured daily celebrity gossip show Heat's Huge News, as well as a 60-minute programme rounding up weeks stories, titled Heat's Huge Week of News, which was produced by ITN.[2] In addition, ITN Productions co-produced celebrity documentary series Real Stories with Box Television. Heat also featured The Heat-Ometer, its pick of the 20 biggest music videos narrated by Heat editor, Lucie Cave.[3]
Box Upfront broadcast current and future mainstream pop music videos 24/7.
On 2 April 2013, all Box Television channels went free-to-air on satellite, apart from 4Music which went free-to-view.[4] As a result, the channels were removed from the Sky EPG in Ireland.[5] However, Heat launched on Freesat on 29 April 2013, alongside Magic, following the addition of four other Box Television channels on 15 April.[6]
On 25 May 2016, the channel was rebranded as Box Upfront.[7] On 1 November 2019, the channel temporarily rebranded as a Christmas music channel called BoXmas, a role also occupied by sister channel Magic (albeit not temporarily rebranded). As the impending shutdown was announced during the rebrand, the channel kept the BoXmas branding, but shifted to a playlist similar to Box Hits on 26 December. Box Upfront ceased to broadcast on 9 January 2020, signing off with a block of departure-themed songs; "Goodbyes" by Post Malone featuring Young Thug, "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC, and "Goodbye" by Spice Girls were the last videos played before it ended operations. The channel space then transitioned to a slide stating that BoXmas was "taking a break" and would be back for the next holiday season (though obviously on a different channel), and redirecting viewers to its sister channels.[8] In October 2020, The Box temporarily rebranded as BoXmas, thus making that channel the new home of BoXmas.