Flaunt was a British electronic dance music TV channel owned and operated by the
CSC Media Group
CSC Media Group, formerly known as Chart Show Channels (CSC), was a British cable television broadcasting company. It was a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. The company dissolved on 27 November 2019.
Background
CSC Media Group was named ...
. It played music videos from the
dance,
techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
,
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
,
disco,
eurodance,
house &
upbeat pop genres 24/7.
History
Early History (2003-2004)
In March 2003,
British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
announced they would enter the music television market and launch three themed channels - Flaunt,
Scuzz
Scuzz was a British 24-hour rock and metal music television channel owned and operated by Sony Pictures Television. It was launched on 17 April 2003 and went on to be the highest-rated rock TV station on the Sky satellite platform, available i ...
, and
The Amp
The AMP was a youth center and music venue in Minot, North Dakota, United States. Established in October 2003 by Billy Luetzen, the AMP provided a place for local youth to hang out, and on most weekends staged a concert. Generally concerts had ...
.
Flaunt would launch with its sister networks on April 17, 2003. For its launch, Flaunt focused on the pop and dance genres, with a female-oriented appeal for the first year of its existence, with a pink logo and a gray/white graphic scheme. The channel also aired entertainment programming from ''Red Carpet Bitch'' with British TV Presenter Julian Bennett that focused on celebrity gossip.
Following the channel's launch, Sky signed a deal with
Channel 5 for Flaunt to become the new sponsor for the weekly Chart Show in June 2003. Flaunt also had first-time exclusive rights to air
Popworld
''Popworld'' is a British television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 as part of the T4 strand, featuring pop news, trivia, gossip, interviews and music videos, as well as musical performances from contemporary artists.
The show bega ...
before
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
aired it on their main channel which is a show made by Channel 4.
In September 2004, due to poor viewing figures and ratings, Sky announced that
Chart Show Channels
CSC Media Group, formerly known as Chart Show Channels (CSC), was a British cable television broadcasting company. It was a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. The company dissolved on 27 November 2019.
Background
CSC Media Group was named ...
would take over operating Flaunt, Scuzz and The Amp beginning in January 2005, although they would retain full ownership in all three channels, alongside advertising control.
First Relaunch (2004-2006)
In October 2004, Flaunt received its first relaunch, gaining a new logo and a blue, circular graphics scheme. It had a parrot mascot during this period where he appeared in many of its idents. The idents were produced by Mark Chandler.
Relaunch as gay-oriented network (2006-2007)
In July 2006, Flaunt relaunched as a
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
oriented music channel; it focused mostly on the
Gay icons
A gay icon is a public figure who is regarded as a cultural icon of some members of the LGBT community.
The most widely recognized gay icons are often actresses and singers who garnered large LGBT fanbases, such as Judy Garland, Madonna, Diana ...
like
Kylie Minogue,
Madonna,
Cher and
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...
. Around the time of the channel relaunch it coincided with Euro-Pride as a celebration. The channel had also undergone a new logo along with song title graphics which was a banner with twinkling stars in the bottom left side of the screen in 4:3 safe area. The channel idents around this time consisted of mostly shirtless men at the gym and disco ball shadow.
Sky announced in November 2006 that their music channels would go Free-To-Air beginning on December 11, 2006, and soon afterwards transitioned full ownership to Chart Show Channels in December 2006, previously, Flaunt alongside its sister music channels were encrypted in
NDS NDS may stand for:
* Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands
* Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...
from its launch, and broadcasting on the
Eutelsat 28A
Eutelsat 133 West A (formerly Eurobird 1, Eutelsat 28A, and Eutelsat 33C) is a Eutelsat operated Eurobird satellite, used primarily for digital television. It was launched in March 2001, and after a short period testing at 33°E, joined Eutelsat ...
communications satellite meant that the channels could be viewed for the first time all across parts of Europe.
Relaunch as a dance-focused channel (2007-2008)
Around this time shortly after going Free-To-Air, Flaunt had axed its gay theming entirely around this period and reformatted itself towards dance music instead of focusing on the niche gay audience and prior to the reformat the channel previously had a dance music appeal prior before turning exclusively into an All-Dance music channel before 2007 rebrand.
In March 2007, Flaunt received a major overhaul to its playlist, both the channel's presentation design were changed to match the new audience reach towards catering for the dance music market. Flaunt had gradually delved further into various different sub genres of dance music such as
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
,
techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
,
house,
electronica,
ambient, and
trip hop
Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...
music. However, around this period Flaunt did not change its presentation that much during this period, however they did abandon the baby blue and pink glitter graphics along with disco ball logo in favour of a purple and blue logo and swish effect graphics. During this period Flaunt had gained quick popularity in the dance music scene playing a wide range of popular dance hits to dance classics, and to lesser-known obscure songs. Flaunt also had special events in Ibiza in their Flaunt Sessions show hosted by singer/songwriter Chantal Matar. Superstar DJ's
Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch disc jockey, record producer and remixer from Rotterdam. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moon ...
,
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
, and
Tiesto presented Flaunt at Creamfields. Dance acts
Infernal,
September
September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...
,
Chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
, and
Freemasons were also guests at Flaunt Sessions where they presented their favourite dance songs, and presented their own songs. DJ and radio host
Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
was also a guest to present several shows on the Flaunt during the
WMC specials. Flaunt started to become highly respected within the British dance music community throughout this era. The channel was mostly house, and euro music oriented by playing artists from the likes of
Freemasons,
Axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...
,
Stonebridge,
Solu Music
Solu Music is a New York-based record label and house music producing duo created by Howie Caspe and Dano Nathanson.
History
Solu Music are best known for their song "Fade" feat. Kimblee. Recorded in 2001 and initially released as an undergrou ...
,
The Shapeshifters
The Shapeshifters is the current alias of English house producer Simon Marlin and a former duo comprising Marlin and Swedish producer Max Reich, from Gothenburg. The Shapeshifters have been signed to Defected Records since 2008, and the duo we ...
,
Kate Ryan
Kate Ryan (born Katrien Verbeeck, 22 July 1980) is a Belgian singer and songwriter, and the winner of a World Music Award. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of ...
, and
Jessy De Smet.
On November 6, 2007, Flaunt and its sister channels were removed from the ex-NTL
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
areas following a failure of an agreement from Chart Show Channels for the networks to be made available in the ex-Telewest areas, alongside Virgin Media wanting to focus more on their Free On-Demand services.
Relaunch as a thematic network and Closure (2008-2010)
In May 2008, Flaunt was rebranded with yet another new logo along with a new graphics set. This time they adopted a retro type font with a white logo and the graphics presentation were graphic equalisers. This period Flaunt begun to experiment with more thematic shows and became more trance-oriented during the late nights by playing videos from the likes of
Solarstone
Richard Mowatt, commonly known by his stage name Solarstone (formerly spelled Solar Stone), is an Irish trance DJ and producer based in Wales. The music project Solarstone was founded as a trio, and also used the pseudonyms Young Parisians, Liq ...
,
iiO,
The Thrillseekers
Steve Helstrip, known by the stage name The Thrillseekers, is an English DJ and record producer. His debut single was "Synaesthesia", released in 1999.
Helstrip has worked under the guises of En Motion, Insigma, Rapid Eye and Hydra. He also w ...
,
Armin van Buuren,
Above & Beyond,
Richard Durand
Richard Durand (; born 5 April 1976) is a Dutch disc jockey and record producer. His real name is Richard van Schooneveld ()
Biography
Starting his career in 2005, Durand was recommended by Tiësto as his 'Tip For the Top in 2007' in ''DJ Mag ...
,
Filo & Peri
Filo & Peri ( , ) are American DJs and EDM producers Domenick Filopei and Bo Pericic.
Career
Filo & Peri were discovered and signed by Armin van Buuren to his Armada record label. They ranked in the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 in 2006 and 2007.
Filo & ...
,
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...
,
DT8 Project,
Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten (; born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch disc jockey, record producer and remixer from Rotterdam. He is well known for producing many pioneering trance tracks during the 1990s–2000s under his numerous aliases, including System F, Moon ...
, and
ATB
André Tanneberger (; born 26 February 1973), better known by his stage name ATB, is a German DJ, musician, and producer of trance music. According to the official world DJ rankings governed by ''DJ Magazine'', ATB was ranked No. 11 in 2009 and ...
.
On May 6, 2008,
CSC Media Group
CSC Media Group, formerly known as Chart Show Channels (CSC), was a British cable television broadcasting company. It was a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. The company dissolved on 27 November 2019.
Background
CSC Media Group was named ...
launched a one-hour timeshift channel called Flaunt +1. It was available 24 hours a day on Sky 367. However, after nearly 4 weeks on air, Flaunt +1 was replaced with
Pop Girl +1 on June 4, 2008.
After almost 7 years on air, Flaunt was closed down on March 17, 2010, and was replaced with
Dance Nation TV.
Former programming
*''Flaunt Anthems''
*''Party Hard''
*''Get Up Flaunt It!''
*''Flaunt Classics ''
*''100% Dance''
*''Non Stop Party!''
*''Total Trance''
*''Nothing But...''
*''Weekender''
*''Flaunt Lounge''
*''Flaunt Party''
*''Twice as Nice''
*''Fresh 'n' Wild''
Ofcom licences mix-up/Flava TV channel
The problems started on Monday February 18, 2008, when the currently named "Flava" Ofcom Licence was renamed from its original name of Flaunt to Flava. This caused a major uproar about the fact that Flaunt, a 24/7 dance channel would be closed, in favour of Flava (a 24/7 Hip Hop/Urban/R&B music channel, similar to
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
,
MTV Base
MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music ch ...
,
Channel U, and
B4). This however turned out to be an error on Ofcom's part, and they accidentally changed Flaunt when they were meant to change the B4 one. But on the following Monday, Ofcom corrected the problem by removing the B4 licence, keeping the newly renamed Flava licence, and adding a new Flaunt licence.
Virgin Media removal
On November 6, 2007, Flaunt along with
Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...
, and
Scuzz
Scuzz was a British 24-hour rock and metal music television channel owned and operated by Sony Pictures Television. It was launched on 17 April 2003 and went on to be the highest-rated rock TV station on the Sky satellite platform, available i ...
were removed from
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
's ex-NTL platform as a deal with
Chart Show Channels
CSC Media Group, formerly known as Chart Show Channels (CSC), was a British cable television broadcasting company. It was a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. The company dissolved on 27 November 2019.
Background
CSC Media Group was named ...
could not be made to make the channels available to their ex-Telewest platform.
References
External links
Flaunt's Official Website
External links
{{Music television in the United Kingdom
CSC Media Group
Defunct British television channels
Dance music television channels
Television channels and stations established in 2003
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010
Music video networks in the United Kingdom