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1 Overview

VH1's popularity never really took off until it was bought out by Viacom, the company which now owns CBSCBS Columbia Broadcasting System is a major radio and television network in the United States. CBS was one of the three commercial television networks that dominated broadcasting in the United States before the rise of cable television. In the days of rad as well as MTV, MTV2MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to basic cable lineups across the nation. It is also broadcast over-the-air in some markets. A European count, BET, Spike TVSpike TV is the new name of the TNN cable network. Originally, this was The Nashville Network with country programming such as The Dukes of Hazzard''. Since the late '90s, it was The National Network or The New TNN after being acquired by Viacom. The prog, Comedy CentralComedy Central is a cable television channel in the United States. As its name implies, the channel carries predominantly comedy programming, both original and syndicated. Comedy Central began on April Fool's Day 1991, after Home Box Office, owned by Time, CMTFor the disease CMT see Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Country Music Television or CMT as it often refered to as, is a country music oriented cable television channel. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, and biographies of country sta, ShowtimeShowtime is a US cable TV network that primarily shows motion pictures as well as some original programming and occasional boxing matches. Showtime went on the air in 1978, largely as competition for HBO. Showtime also was one of the first cable TV networ, and several other cable channels. In 19941994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family''. Events January events January 1 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect January 6 Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an, in a bid to make itself more noticeable, VH1 started to market itself as the "new VH1: Music First". It altered its format slightly from adult contemporary to adult top 40 , now including musicians such as Ace of Base, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and other slightly more rock-oriented, popular music than what it had originally played, though lite favorites such as Des'ree, Elton John, Madonna, Céline Dion, and Mariah Carey still received heavy video play in 1994, as well.

By 1996, VH1 was heading down the same path as its sister station, MTV, choosing to focus more on music-related shows than on actual videos. Old episodes of American Bandstand could regularly be seen on the channel and the channel was reportedly in major risk of going bankrupt because of very poor ratings.

Things changed drastically for VH1 in the fall of 1996, with the premiere of Pop-Up Video, a very successful and popular show which offered tidbits of information as music videos were being played. "Pop-Up" television has gone on to become something of a cultural phenomenom, appearing on episodes of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Brady Bunch reruns and even a special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

In September of 1997, VH1 again hit it big with the premiere of the first of the network's flagship shows, Behind the Music. The show features interviews and biographies of some of popular music's biggest stars qualified to be profiled on the series. The premiere episode featured Milli Vanilli. To date, there are episodes on everyone from Queen Latifah to MC Hammer to Fleetwood Mac to TLC to Weird Al Yankovic, and more episodes are being produced constantly.

Shortly after, VH1 created a companion series, Legends (originally sponsored by AT&T), profiling artists who have made a more significant contribution to music history to qualify as "Legends" (that is, those artists who do not fit in the category of Behind the Music biographies). The artists profiled so far have included Marvin Gaye, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Doors, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Bee Gees, and U2.

Oddly enough, there have been rare instances where artists have been profiled on both Behind The Music and Legends. These artists have been Elton John, Tina Turner, and John Lennon.

In 1998, VH1 debuted the first annual " VH1 Divas " concert. The original was live, and featured the "divas" Céline Dion, Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, and Aretha Franklin, and the "special guest" Carole King. The concert was a huge success and others followed featuring " divas" including Whitney Houston, Cher, Donna Summer, LeAnn Rimes, Mary J. Blige, Diana Ross, and Faith Hill.

In the late 1990s VH1 continued to get more diverse and teen-based with its music selection. Various late-night rock shows have been shown on VH1, featuring alternative rock and metal videos from the 1980s and 1990s. VH1 eventually warmed up to harder rock acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, and Metallica, and their new videos are generally added into VH1's playlist right away.

Most recently, VH1 has even begun to play mainstream rap musicians. The latest videos by Eminem, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliott are currently in VH1's rotation and have even started to crop up on VH1's top 20 countdown, as of early 2003.

From time to time, VH1 airs its own "movie of the week" series, Movies That Rock (aka VH1 Rock-And-Roll Picture Show), showcasing rock-and-roll and rock-and-roll related movies. In fact, one of those films, the 1992 telefilm The Jacksons: An American Dream , has aired more times on VH1 than any other film ever broadcast on the network.

Presently, VH1 is most known for Behind the Music, its news documentaries, and its Movies That Rock, and for its music-related specials, more so than for actual music videos. The top 20 countdown still airs a few times a week, however, and gives viewers the chance to see some of the most popular videos in the nation.

Recently, VH1 has had success with its short I Love the 80s series and spinoffs covering the 70s and 90s, based on a BBC series with the same name [1]. The format, various comedians giving their takes or opinions on popular culture, has been repeated for the weekly program Best Week Ever.