MTV2  MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks division of ViacomCBS. The channel was initially broadcast free-to-air in selected markets, where the former all-request music channel known as The Box was broadcast (which was acquired by MTV Networks in 2001 for the sole purpose of conversion to MTV2). The channel launched initially as a constant, commercial-free music videos, once the original MTV had started to change its direction to reality television and serial documentaries. As with its parent network, MTV2's focus on music programming would gradually be downplayed during the 2000s. Since 2011, MTV2 has been targeting young adult men with original and acquired lifestyle and reality programming, reruns of male-targeting shows from MTV, acquired sitcoms and movies, and a daily block of Hip hop and Rock genre videos in the early mornings. Due to Viacom's 2017 restructuring plan, MTV2's original programs were moved over to the flagship MTV network, while the former network would drop its music video blocks in November of that year. In February 2015, approximately 79,416,000 American households (68.2% of households with television) received MTV2. MTV2 began broadcasting as simply M2 on August 1, 1996 – MTV's 15th anniversary – with Beck's "Where It's At" being the first video to air. M2 was created ostensibly to answer critics and viewers who complained MTV didn't show music videos anymore; in reality, M2 was part of MTV Networks' strategy to expand its brand in anticipation of the coming shift to digital cable, which would exponentially increase the number of available channels on the cable spectrum. Based on MTV Network's internal research, viewers' pent-up demand for additional music video viewing options—a demand that M2 was designed to meet—fed expectations within the company that the new channel's success would be inevitable and immediate. Upon M2's launch, the new 24-hour music video network proved to be as popular with viewers as MTV hoped. However, as digital cable technology was slow to expand into major cities, cable companies refused to add yet another music channel to their limited, pre-digital channel lineup, arguing that with MTV, VH1, CMT, Fuse and other niche music video options, the audience for 'music on TV' was being sufficiently serviced. Even the fact that M2 generated huge ratings whenever it was tested—by the subscription companies themselves—in free previews around the country was not enough to convince the pay-TV gatekeepers to add M2 to their lineup.