| Trace Hits | |
| Picture Format: | 576i SDTV |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Website: | Official website |
Trace Hits (formerly Chart Show TV and Trace Urban) was a British free-to-air music channel owned by Trace Group.
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.
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 played on Chart Show TV was "Big for Your Boots" by Stormzy when it was unexpectedly cut to Trace Urban with the first music being "I Wanna Be Down" by Brandy. The channel introduced blocks from former sister channels Starz TV and Trace Latina on 1 June 2020.
On 1 October 2020, the channel became Trace Xmas, taking over from defunct sister channel Starz TV. This was repeated in 2021 and in 2022.
On 5 January 2021, the channel was renamed Trace Hits.[4]
The channel closed on 27 April 2023.[5] Fly Girl by Flo featuring Missy Elliott was the final video to be played but the signal was cut to a black screen halfway through the song.
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, though both channels could be found on Freeview via Channelbox (Freeview Channel 271) in the streamed section alongside 'GImux' channels Clubland TV, Country Music Entertainment and Now 90s.[6]
On 27 June 2022, a trio of Trace music channels were launched on Channelbox with Trace Urban, Trace Latina and Trace Brazuca replacing Trace Vault and Trace Hits, in a section on channel 271 which now included Zoom, Balle Balle and Stingray's channels (Qello, CMusic and Karaoke) rather than Universal's Now Music channels.[7]
| Trace UK | |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Owner: | Trace Group |
Trace UK is a British free-to-air music channel owned by the French Trace Group. It is the first UK-focused Trace music service since Trace Hits (formerly Chart Show TV and Trace Urban) was broadcast.
Trace UK appeared on the Channelbox[8] programme guide on 21 June 2024 (found on Freeview channel 271) and can be found as a FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus Channel 4713.[9]
It is one of four UK-focused channels the French Trace company currently runs, the other three being Trace Urban, Trace Latina and Trace Brazuca on Channelbox. Trace UK is a black music channel focusing on Hip-Hop, R&B, Grime and Drill.[10]