Owned by the corporate giant known as Viacom and in association with MTV networks Music, MTV2 was not spawned off of MTV as many originally believe. MTV2 actually came from an original channel known as "The Box" that was acquired by MTV Networks in 2001. The studio acquired the channel and simple re-branded it into MTV2 rather than creating an entirely new channel.
The Box was launched in 1985 and at the time, the goal was to provide viewers a commercial free channel where they could watch music videos non-stop. This came at a time when MTV was playing less music videos and focused more on dating game shows, soap operas and reality television.
Today, MTV2 doesn't primarily focus on music but instead focuses on reality television programming and some older MTV reality television programming as well. However, during the late night or early morning, you can catch music videos still playing on the channel.
The network primarily likes to focus on the young male audience as a majority of their demographic. On August 2013, MTV2 had reached over 81 million households. MTV2 officially began broadcasting in 1996 simply as M2.
In early 2012, MTV2 launched their HD channel MTV2 HD which came in a 1080i resolution. To this day, the MTV Networks are home to hundreds of original programs and shows including the hit show, The Jersey Shore and formerly, The Real World.
