The Hits to be renamed 4Music

The Hits will be renamed 4Music under rebranding plans from owner Channel 4.

It comes after Emap, with which Channel 4 co-ran the music service as well as several radio stations, sold its consumer division to Bauer for £714.3m.

The 4Music brand is already used for strands on E4 and will feature on The Hits on Sundays from March. The channel is expected to be totally renamed before the end of the year as contracts with partners come to an end.

It will join Channel 4's collection of branded channels that include E4, More4 and Film4 and will soon extend to its own digital radio stations.

Channel 4 said it was also looking at other moves to develop its relationship with Bauer.