VH1 history

Also in 1991, a popular morning program was introduced called Hits News & Weather that ran from 7 am to 9 am ET. (It later expanded to 10 am ET.) It composed of music videos both past and present along with a 90-second update of the day's news & weather provided by All News Channel.

In 1993, the name of the videos' director was included at the bottom of the credits.

As part of VH-1's re-branding as "VH1: Music First" in 1994, the channel launched a new series, the VH1 Top 10 Countdown, that counted down the top 10 music videos played on VH1 each week.

In 1995 Viacom’s Paramount unit and Chris-Craft Industries launched a new broadcasting network called United Paramount Network.

In February 1996, VH1 again hit it big with the premiere of the first of the network's flagship shows, VH1 Storytellers.

In 1998, VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert and featured the "divas" Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan, and Celine Dion, and the "special guest" Carole King.

In 1999, VH1 aired its first original movie, a biopic on Sweetwater.

The series was adapted from a BBC series, first broadcast in 2000, in which current entertainers and pop-culture figures offered their take on the trends, events, and personalities of another decade.

The series expanded from 10 to 20 music videos, becoming the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown, in 2001.

Around late 2002, VH1 even began to play mainstream rap musicians.

In August 2003, the network changed its focus again, dropping "Music First" from its name, and introducing a box logo.

ET. The overnight block was called Insomniac Music Theater, later renamed Nocturnal State in August 2005.

On May 25, 2006, Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and Kiss were the inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas.

In 2007, ZZ Top, Heart, Genesis, and Ozzy Osbourne were inducted into the VH1 Rock Honors.

At of the beginning of October 2008, Nocturnal State was cut down to one hour, and Fresh: New Music was supplanted by additional hours of Jump Start.

Recently in late December 2009, an updated series titled "100 Most Shocking Music Moments" aired on VH1.

From April 28 to May 2, 2011, from Tampa to Cozumel music fans could experience non-stop music performances from headliners Train, Lifehouse, Colbie Caillat, and The Script.

Music Videos continued to be branded under Jump Start until January 5, 2013.

The show was renamed The 20 in early 2015, and ended later that year.

In the first quarter of 2016, VH1 announced its highest ratings in six years and it was then the fastest-growing subscription channel in that same period.

VH1 has seen further shifts to its programming as part of Viacom's 2017 restructuring plan.