The network's programming was initially composed of advertising blocks, modern Soviet and Western music videos, cartoons, and TV series.

Starting in April 1st 2007, an animated Russian channel began broadcasting content aimed at a teen and adult audience under the name of 2x2.

The channel was established by order of the state television and radio broadcasting of the USSR as a structural division within the General Directorate of Programs (GDP).

The name «2×2» was coined by the team around the end of July 1989, at the same time Sergey Lavrov developed the general style of the TV channel and the original logo.

The channel was very popular among Soviet schoolchildren, who most often, while waiting for a 20-minute show of music videos, watched advertising blocks that sometimes lasted for 40 minutes without a break.

[1] Starting around 1992, the channel began to broadcast a program about heavy and rock music "Green Corridor", produced by the production Studio "BIZ Enterprises" entrepreneur Boris Zosimov.

Despite the fact that some of the ideas of Boris Zosimov (MTV) did not justify themselves, he continued to occupy part of the air on 2×2, creating a TV producer "BIZ-TV".

Since 2 July 1992, instead of the daytime show of feature films of Central television, the TV channel began to carry out reruns of series going to MTK, the first of which was "Nobody but you".

In 1993–1994, 2×2 also regularly showed commercials of the organization Greenpeace, and therefore on the air of this TV channel viewers could often see Joanna Stingray and Boris Grebenshchikov.

[28] In 1994, the channel had problems with the Australian television series "Chances", which gradually moved from the usual melodrama to a more explicit erotic genre.

In 1994–1995, the channel reached the peak of popularity due to the diverse broadcast network and the presence of such programs as" Dandy — New reality", and such animated series as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Entrepreneurs were addressed advertising blocks, children-cartoons and animated series, housewives-soap operas, young people-music videos and programs.

This project provided for the distribution of TV programs from Moscow via a satellite communication system to the entire territory of Russia, the CIS countries, and to places with a high Russian-speaking population (the Baltic States,[44] Bulgaria, Israel, Cyprus).

From the first days of broadcasting of the revived 2×2, most of the airtime of the channel was made up of FashionTV programs[52] and clips of domestic performers produced by the production Studio "Difficult Childhood".

[50] In accordance with the concept, the TV channel fundamentally refused to introduce information, social, socio-political or criminal programs into its broadcasting network.

Some cartoons that aired 2×2 have already been shown on other Russian channels, for example, The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, South Park (REN TV), Beavis and Butt-Head, and Celebrity Deathmatch (MTV Russia).

[68] On May 21, 2008, the premiere of the animated series Monkey Dust took place, the male roles in which were voiced by journalist Leonid Parfenov.

[69][70] On 13 April 2009, the animated series The Boondocks was first premiered in Russia, with some of its characters were voiced by rappers Vasily Vakulenko (Noggano) and Denis Karpenko (QP).

On the 2009 New Year's Eve, a concert with the participation of the young avant-garde composer Nikolai Voronov, who became famous in Runet for his song "White dragonfly of love", was shown on 2×2 immediately after the chimes.

[81] In July of the same year, after the appearance of Roman Sarkisov as the general director and according to the terms of the license renewal, the channel began to develop a non-animation direction: now it also broadcasts game television series (initially in a special night block 2×2|new).

[91] Its creator Kirill Dalnichenko (formerly a player of the KVN team "Four Bold" from Serpukhov) previously collaborated with the channel, a year ago he presented his other series - "Fizfak".

[92] In addition, the basis of its own production of 2×2 began to be reviews of movies, TV series and video games: "Immortal cinema", "Looking", and "Level Up".

In parallel with this, 2×2 began broadcasting the animated series Rick and Morty, which was produced by Adult Swim, while purchasing an amateur voice-over by the YouTuber Dmitry Karpov (Syenduk).

[98][99] However, the share of the channel did not change significantly, and the coverage remained also Federal and all-Russian, since in most major cities it was already retransmitted only in cable networks.

In November 2016, the channel established its own animation studio, the creative producer of which was Kirill Danilchenko, and the General Director — Anna Moryakova.

On 6 April 2019, instead of broadcasting WWE wrestling, the channel began to purchase recorded fights of Latin American wrestlers "Lucha Underground".

[105][106] On 1 November 2019, the "2×2 Media" service was launched (before that, it was called "2×2 Hub"),[107] where for a subscription viewers could watch content in FULL HD and without censorship on the channel's website.

[111] In 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the channel lost licenses to many popular animated series, including The Simpsons, Futurama, Adult Swim shows and many others.

In February 2008, the Russian Media Culture Protection Department (Rossvyazokhrankultura), a regulatory body for TV in Russia, issued a warning about Happy Tree Friends and The Adventures of Big Jeff, claiming that the shows promote "violence and brutality."

[119] In July 2009, 2×2 cut a scene from the episode "Free Willzyx" of South Park, because it depicted Vladimir Putin as "a greedy and desperate leader," prompting "criticism and furious discussion on Russia blogs".