MTVX was a Viacom

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

-owned American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 video channel. MTVX was available exclusively on digital cable

Digital cable

Digital cable is a generic term for any type of cable television distribution using digital video compression or distribution. The technology was originally developed by Motorola.-Background:...

 packages or satellite TV providers, being the first network of the "MTV Networks Digital Suite".

Format

MTVX had no commercials besides a brief, infrequent promotional spot for sister station MTV2

MTV2

MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...

; and would show rock music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s constantly. The channel aired contemporary videos and older videos that were no longer shown on MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

. Likewise, MTVX was not limited to just one genre of rock music videos. The channel aired a variety of genres, including punk, metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, and grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

.

Also, MTV-X showcased otherwise unknown or unheard music to the masses, such as Static-X, Disturbed, Finger Eleven, Black Label Society, Soil, Soulfly, Sepultura, Tool, Pantera, Kittie, Dope, Coal Chamber, Mushroomhead and others.

Closure

MTVX was closed on May 1, 2002, and replaced by MTV Jams

MTV Jams

MTV Jams is a Viacom-owned American hip-hop/urban music video channel that debuted on 1998 as MTVX, then was relaunched in 2002 under its current name...

, a hip-hop music video channel. The last video played on MTVX was "See You On The Other Side" by Ozzy Osbourne. The replacement of MTVX with MTV Jams

MTV Jams

MTV Jams is a Viacom-owned American hip-hop/urban music video channel that debuted on 1998 as MTVX, then was relaunched in 2002 under its current name...

 was decried by rock music fans. MTV's explanation, based upon ratings and Billboard chart information, was that more of the American population would prefer to see hip-hop and R&B music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s, rather than the alternative

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 and hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

videos that MTVX had been created to play.