The programme was operated by Me, Myself & Eye Entertainment GmbH, the former editorial office of Tele 5's predecessor musicbox, in cooperation with MTV Networks Europe.

In the initial phase, the programme included imported VH-1 formats such as Storytellers, Pop-Up Video and Behind the Music, concerts and recordings from the archive and telecasts of live events such as the VH-1 Big In Award, as well as numerous self-produced formats with a relatively high standard of music journalism, such as the Musikalische Quintett.

In 1996, as a reaction to the start-up losses of around 60 million Deutsche Mark, a conversion to a younger-oriented programme titled MTV2 was openly considered for the first time.

A budget cut in October 1997 meant that almost all live-presented programmes had to be cancelled; a large part of its workforce was laid off.

On 7 August 2000, Bauer Media Group announced its intentions to take over 50% of the shares in VH-1 and the design of the programme from 08.00 to 20.00 hours.

[8] On 1 May 2001, VH-1 was converted into the much younger-oriented mainstream MTV2 Pop channel as the "debut project" of the then new MTV managing director Catherine Mühlemann.

VH-1 initially remained on the satellite site, although the past "main tenant" Nickelodeon ceased airing on 31 May 1998 at 20:00 hours.

Despite this, VH-1 kept its limited transmission times, although Nickelodeon's space was replaced by a testcard informing viewers of its closure until August.

[11][12] The reason for this limited reception situation via satellite was an exclusive contract with the then cable network operator Deutsche Telekom, which wanted to create a customer incentive with an unencrypted transmission of VH-1.