It's probably been well documented her on the Org and elsewhere how much MTV sucks and how they don't play any music anymore, and that they should change the name of network to RealityTV shop or whatever, and that MTV2 and VH1 hardly play any music videos either. Yes, what has become of MTV. MTV2 and VH1 is tragic, but they are hardly the only cable networks to lose their identity.

In fact, a number of cable networks have completely changed from their original inception and purpose. Spike TV was originally The Nashville Network (TNN), which was originally a country music version of MTV. Then they began adding live shows and documentaries, originally themed around country music, but then they began adding non-music programming like NASCAR and outdoor shows like The Bassmasters and a bunch of hunting shows. Then came reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard and other such shows that began to crowd out the music portion of the channel. Viacom, which owned MTV and TNN, created Country Music Television (CMT) to be the country music equivalent of MTV2, while TNN dropped any reference to Nashville in their promos. By 2000, all previous country-themed programming was dropped from TNN, and it was renamed The National Network, which became more all-purpose programming but with a male-slanted edge. By 2003 it was renamed Spike TV.

Then there is TLC. It began life as The Learning Channel, which in and of itself was an offshoot of the Discovery Channel. The Learning Channel originally focused on educational programming related to science and technology. Then they started adding shows like Battlebots which were more entertainment oriented. Then came the fluffy shows about house flipping which came at the peak of the housing boom, and then the wedding and baby programs. and soon TLC simply dropped "Learning Channel" from any promos. The network which was originally about science and technology became the network about weddings, babies, and What Not To Wear.

Then you also have A&E and Bravo. A&E stood for Arts and Entertainment, and when it first aired, it was the equivalent of PBS except with commercials. They aired a lot of old British movies and TV series, some opera and symphonies, and of course the excellent Biography program. But then TV miniseries began to creep onto the schedule, and Biography was sent off to its own network. Then you had all of the true crime documentaries like American Justice and Forensic Files hogging the schedule, which led to Dog The Bounty Hunter. Now it's pretty much like TNT and USA except with a lot of CSI: Miami and Sopranos reruns. Bravo started out as an offshoot channel of A&E which aired operas, symphonies, and indie films, but it took a radically different tack once NBC bought the network. Soon NBC was placing a lot of their repurposed programming (i.e. first-run reruns) on the network, and then they turned the network into a reality TV paradise with shows like Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, Project Runway, Top Chef, and Being Bobby Brown.

ABC Family originally started out as the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), which was Pat Robertson's right wing ministry. It aired The 700 Club and a number of all-religious programming at first, but since it wasn't daring enough viewers, they began showing more family-oriented general programming. Soon the religious stuff was relegated to late nights and Sundays, and it was renamed The Family Channel. In 1999, NewsCorp bought out the channel from Pat Roberston and renamed it FOX Family Channel under the stipulation that he be allowed to continue airing The 700 Club nightly for as long as he is still living. In 2002, Disney bought out FOX Family Channel and renamed it ABC Family but honored Pat Robertson's original request.

Then there is AMC. AMC stood for American Movie Classics, and it originally aired classic movies from the 1930's to the 1970's without commercial interruption, and it originally was a premium channel like HBO and Showtime. It wasn't getting enough subscribers, though, so they began to air in basic cable and began showing commercials. They also began showing more recent movies including a lot of the Friday the 13th series and blow-em up action movies and changed their brand from American Movie Classics to All Movie Channel. In the past three years they began creating their own original programming like Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

Now the Sci-Fi channel is changing its name to SyFy, which is meant to reflect that their programming is not strictly science fiction related. Of course, they began to change years before that, when they added reality shows like Scare Tactics and professional wrestling to their schedule.

Also, Cartoon Network has recently announced that they are adding live-action shops to their schedule. It's only a matter of time before they just rename themselves CN.

I heard Disney's gonna have on hard core porn after Hannah Montana.

It's hard not to change...

I still love AMC!

How is BET lately? I saw it years ago and it sucked.

if they stop showing as many cartoons on cartoon network my 4 year old son is going to be pissed! he loves to watch that channel every morning.

I didn't know that about Sci-Fi becoming SyFy.

A&E, Bravo, and AMC make me sad how they've changed, but I guess nothing stays the same forever...