Rock music fans will lose their round-the-clock diet of Paramore and Foo Fighters when the Kerrang! TV channel closes as part of Channel 4’s cuts.
Launched in 2001, the video channel provided a rare national TV outlet for heavy rock, helping to popularise the emo and nu-metal scenes among a young audience.
However Channel 4 said it will shut the “UK’s number one rock channel” along with other music video stations, including KISS and Magic.
The broadcaster is cutting 18 per cent of its headcount as it battles an advertising slump. It said it had decided to drop “small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale”.
The outlets – part of The Box network – have fallen victim to changes in viewing tastes and technology, with YouTube now the main forum for music video viewing.
Loyal viewers were outraged at the move to close Kerrang! TV, with one fan writing on X that it was a “disgrace”.
The free-to-view Kerrang! TV, whose playlist extended from skate-punk to indie rock, won a cult following by allowing fans to choose which videos it screened through text messaging.
Bands including Limp Bizkit, Panic! At The Disco and Good Charlotte benefitted from heavy rotation on the channel.
The closure does not mean the end of the Kerrang! brand. Founded in 1981 to chart the rise of a new wave of British heavy metal bands including Iron Maiden, Kerrang! remains a quarterly print magazine with a website attracting eight million views a month.
Kerrang! Radio, owned by Bauer Media – the home of Ken Bruce’s Greatest Hits Radio and – increased its audience to 400,000 listeners a week, according to the latest Rajar figures, and is unaffected by the closure.
The Box channels have been earmarked for closure as Channel 4 divests from its “legacy” operations in order to invest in its digital offerings.
A handful of music TV channels remain on Freeview and satellite platforms including MTV Hits, MTV 80s and MTV 90s.
The core MTV channel, which launched the music TV revolution in 1981, has largely dropped music for reality TV shows.
Channel 4 said it would discontinue other linear channels “at the right time”. The E4 youth channel will remain but there will be fewer programmes commissioned for its audience.
Channel 4 will focus on attracting viewers through its on-demand platform and YouTube.
Some 20 per cent of programme commissioners are expected to lose their roles in a restructure which will see the creation of a single Entertainment and Reality department, responsible for shows ranging from The Last Leg to Married at First Sight.
The strategy also includes plans to move out of Channel 4’s £100m London HQ “in the next few years” as more roles shift to the nations and regions. A new office space will be sought in central London.
Channel 4 has been contacted for comment.