Heat TV to launch on Sky and Virgin Media in July

The new digital TV channel from Heat magazine will debut on Sky and Virgin Media next month.

From July 3rd 2012, the station will offer a raft of music and celebrity-focused content, including biography series Real Stories, which will feature the likes of Adele, Nicki Minaj and Pink.

The channel will launch with Hugest Pop Songs on Planet Earth, an interactive show that sees viewers vote on their favourite tracks. Voting has already opened on the Heat website.

Lucie Cave, editor of Heat magazine, said readers of the publication have been asking for years why it was yet to launch a TV channel, reports Digital Spy.

"It's because we wanted to get it right - and now we have, with an amazing new proposal that combines the best of music, gossip and social media," she explained.

The service will be operated by Box TV, which added Heat TV to its portfolio of music channels in May.

Heat magazine was launched in 2000 and is described by publisher Bauer Media as "the must-have celebrity weekly".

The publication already offers its own radio station, Heat Radio, which is broadcast on DAB, online and on Freeview at channel 714.