[5] Relaunched on August 1, 1999 as VH1 Classic Rock, the channel primarily featured a mainstream rock/adult hits-formatted mix of music videos and concert footage from the 1960s to the 1980s, though it originally included a wider range of genres and time periods.

From January 28 until February 15, 2015, VH1 Classic aired a 19-day marathon of NBC's Saturday Night Live in celebration of the series' 40th anniversary.

The rebranded network schedule also included reruns of past MTV original series such as the 2011 Beavis and Butt-Head revival and Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.

[11] Since then, the only deviation from the automation has been "roadblock" simulcasts of the annual MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie & TV Awards to remove any competition from other Paramount networks, as well occasional marathons of older MTV shows to promote new series or season launches (as was done with The Hills to promote The Hills: New Beginnings), As of the end of the year 2016, the channel was the least-watched English-language channel on most American subscription providers, averaging only 30–35,000 viewers on an average night in primetime (a decline of nearly a third from the already-low numbers VH1 Classic had netted in 2015), which was likely a factor in the network quickly abandoning their new format after five months.

[17] Even those low numbers were halved by the end of July 2017, as that month's ratings showed it averaging 7,000 viewers per night, ahead of only the beIN networks.

Some musicians or performers, such as Steve Harwell of the rock band Smash Mouth, have their music videos broadcast periodically throughout the day of their death, mixed into regular programming.