Founders quit Emap’s The box

The founders of EMAP Radio’s The Box Music Channel – managing director Vince Monsey and director of programming Liz Laskowski – have both left the cable music channel suddenly.

EMAP has appointed Stuart Pinches, a TV consultant, to act as managing director of the channel in the UK.

Pinches has a history of launching and developing music television channels in Europe and Australia, including VH-1 in Europe and ARC in Australia. He also worked on the launch of Channel 5.

According to sources at EMAP Radio, Monsey and Laskowski have left to pursue new projects.

The Box was launched in 1992 by Video Jukebox Network and Ticketmaster was bought by EMAP subsidiary Box Television in 1996.

Tim Schoonmaker, chief executive of EMAP Radio, says: “Monsey and Laskowski have overseen the integration of The Box into EMAP and built the channel’s audience during this period. Stuart will now take up the next stage of the channel’s development.”

In June, the channel underwent a technical revamp and is now available on BSkyB digital satellite and cable networks.

According to EMAP, The Box is the fastest growing cable and sat-ellite music channel in the UK.