Television channel
Flava was a British hip-hop music television channel owned and operated by Sony Pictures Television.
It was launched in June 2004 and was formerly called B4 TV, a previous pre-launch music channel from CSC Media Group. Flava broadcast for 24 hours a day and played Hip Hop, Urban and R&B music from the late 1970s to the 2010s. It also occasionally showed films and original programming (#PLAY). The channel advertised itself as 100% Old Skool Hip-Hop/R&B 24/7.
History
B4
Flava launched on 12 July 2004 and started off as a test channel which focused on Pop and Dance under the name of "B4". The channel used to play the latest pre release music videos from the notable artists and groups. It also had hours dedicated to playing requested music. The channel had advertised itself as both 'B4 It's A Hit' and 'B4 Everyone Else'.
The B4 logo was on screen in the bottom left-hand corner during music videos and the song information was shown in a white coloured bar at the start and near the end of each music video. The channels' identity was also seen before and after advert breaks when the B4 logo forms on screen in a white box shape on an orange background.
B4 was available 24 hours a day on Sky channel 357 and was part of several music channels owned by CSC Media Group.
B4 also produced an early morning music video programme broadcast from 2004 on weekdays on Channel 4 at 7 am. It was normally broadcast as part of Channel 4's breakfast programming following children's programmes and preceding a number of comedy programmes from America. Produced by the firm behind ITV's The Chart Show, the show featured around seven new upfront videos each day that were going to be released in the United Kingdom in the near future, normally within the next month.
Rebrand to Flava
The B4 rebrand to Flava first came to light when the Ofcom licence for B4 was removed and replaced by one under the name of Flava, this also reflected the EPG references of the term "Flava" being used to describe the programmes being shown, in late February/early March 2008. On 26 March 2008, B4 launched officially as an all-urban music channel named Flava.
On 29 September 2009, Flava launched on Freesat channel 502, replacing Scuzz on the platform.
On 26 November 2012, Flava changed its logo. On 5 June 2013, Flava swapped positions with Scuzz on Sky. The channel moved from channel 367 to 374, while Scuzz moved from 374 to 367 (to sit next to Kerrang!, as both are rock music channels).
On 21 July 2014, Flava, along with Bliss were removed from Freesat.
On 23 April 2017, Flava introduced a brand new logo, changed their programme graphics from blue to black (red in some programmes and yellow in "Remember The Year"), as well as later rebranding themselves to be a 100% Old Skool Hip Hop and RnB channel on 2 May 2017.
Closure
Flava ceased broadcasting at 11:15 on 1 November 2017 without warning, with "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G. the final music video to be played on the channel. Flava abruptly crashed and went blank in the middle of the video. The channel was then closed down and removed from the EPG abruptly and shortly after. The last video played in full was "In da Club" by 50 Cent.
