4Music is going big on V Festival this year with plans to air six hours of live coverage a day as a key part of its summer programming.

V 2009 takes place on August 22-23 in Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffordshire. Headliners this year include The Killers, Oasis, Fatboy Slim and Keane.

4Music and Box TV's programming director Dave Young explains that coverage of the festival - as well as Channel 4's own T4 On The Beach, which takes place this Sunday, July 19, with acts including JLS, Little Boots and Basement Jaxx - will form the centrepiece of the station's summer schedule, dubbed "4Music's Summer Sizzle".

"There is a great range of artists playing there and the two events are at different ends of the scale," Young says. "We aim to invest in festival coverage, live coverage and to plough our own furrow, to innovate."

4Music's coverage will include the live coverage, three highlights shows and standalone live performances from six key acts, which the station is planning at the moment.

Parent company Channel 4, which owns 4Music alongside the Box TV Network, will also be going big on the festival, screening nearly six hours of live highlights on C4 over the weekend, as well as live T4 links.

The two channels' coverage is designed to be mutually complementary, explains Channel 4 head of T4 and music Neil McCallum, adding, "For example when you see a Lily Allen performance in live a C4 show, you'll be able to catch more - different - Lily tracks on 4Music streaming."

Young explains that there are four other key aspects of 4Music's summer programming:

* the "50 best" strand, including 50 Sexiest Beach Videos this Friday (July 17);

* the Hot Mix, which he describes as a "video DJ mix"

* 4Music Sundaes, with summer-themed programmes; and

* an element of British seaside kitsch, with Christopher Biggins and Timmy Mallett presenting shows.

Next month will mark the first birthday of 4Music, which launched in August 2008 following a rebrand of The Hits station.

Young says that the channel has defined its niche of "celebrity and energy and music", adding, "We try to keep things glamorous, to reflect what people get genuinely excited about."

He explains that audience figures have been impressive in the station's first year.

"We are happy with them," he says. "May and June have been particularly good, in the region of 10% up year-on-year. That is pretty healthy for what is still a young channel."

Meanwhile, V organisers have announced that Peter Doherty and British Sea Power are to headline the Virgin Media Union stage at this year's festival.

via L4e / source: californiachronicle.com

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