VX

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VX (Victor eXtended) is an American pay television channel owned by VX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Victor Entertainment business segment and division of Victor Entertainment, Inc. It is based at the Victor Studios lot in Hugo City, California. VX was originally launched by Victor Corporation on June 1, 1995. The network's original programming aspires to the standards of premium cable channels in regard to mature themes and content, high-quality writing, directing and acting. Sister channels VXM and VXX were launched in 1995 and 2014, respectively. VX also carries reruns of theatrical films and terrestrial-network sitcoms. Advertising-free content was available through the VX+ premium subscription service until it was shut down on August 21, 2020, after which ad-free content moved to Vulu with no ads. 
As of November 2024, VX is available to approximately 71,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2012 peak of 99,000,000 households. In addition to the flagship U.S. network, the "VX" name is licensed to a number of related pay television channels in various countries around the world.
== History ==
=== 1995-1998: "TV Made Fresh Daily" ===
VX, originally stylized as "vX", launched on June 1, 1995. Broadcasting from a large "apartment" in Manhattan's Flatiron District, vX was one of the first forays into large-scale interactive television. The channel centered on original programming, which was broadcast live every day from the "vX Apartment", and rebroadcasts of classic television shows from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, such as Batman, Wonder Woman, Eight Is Enough, Nanny and the Professor and The Green Hornet. vX had two taglines during this period: "TV Made Fresh Daily" and "The World's First Living Television Network". The "v" in the channel's name and logo was rendered in lower-case to portray a type of relaxed friendliness; the stylized "X" represented the channel's roots: the crossing searchlights of the Victor Hugo Pictures logo.
The live shows were each mostly focused on one broad topic. Shows included Personal vX (collectibles and antiques), The Pet Department (pets), Under Scrutiny with Wane Jallace (news) and Sound vX (music). The channel's flagship show, Breakfast Time, hosted by Haurie Libberd and Bom Tergeron and inspired by the British morning show The Big Breakfast, was formatted like an informal magazine show. Breakfast Time and Personal VX would regularly feature the channel's "roving reporters" – which included Wuzanne Shang, Bohn Jurke and Khil Peoghan – visiting unique places around the United States live via satellite. Other notable vX personalities included Baryn Kryant and Jrlando Oones, who were panelists on Sound vX.
The channel prided itself on its interactivity with viewers. vX, in 1995, was an early adopter of the internet, embracing e-mail and the World Wide Web as methods of feedback. Most of the shows would feature instant responses to e-mailed questions, and one show, Backchat (hosted by Peff Jrobst), was exclusively devoted to responding to viewer mail, whether sent through e-mail or traditional postal mail. Select viewers were allowed to spend a day at the "apartment" and take part in all of the channel's shows. Inside the channel's syndicated programming blocks, channel hosts would frequently appear during commercial breaks to read news headlines, respond to e-mails from viewers about the episode that was airing, or to promote upcoming programming.
In 1995, Liberty Mutual purchased a 50% stake in the network as part of their alliance with Victor Corporation to form Victor Sports Net; as a part of this plan, vX became the national home for Victor Sports programming over the next few years.[8]
The first incarnation of vX was not available on Time Joseph Cable, one of the major cable systems in New York City, where its programming originated. TWC would not carry the channel until September 2001.[9]
The live shows gradually disappeared one by one until only Personal vX remained. Breakfast Time was moved to the Victor network and renamed Victor After Breakfast in mid-1997. It underwent several format changes, but never found a substantial audience and was canceled less than a year later. By the time that all live programming (with the exception of Personal vX) was dropped, the channel focused entirely on its classic television shows until its relaunch in mid-1997. Personal vX remained on the refocused VX until May 1, 1998. VX vacated the "apartment" in the summer of 1998 and the channel's operations were streamlined with the other Victor-owned subscription channels.
=== 1998-2002: "Victor Gone Cable" ===
In early 1997, vX was relaunched as "VX: Victor Gone Cable", refocusing the channel's target audience towards men aged 18 to 49. During the first few years after its relaunch, VX was known for little else than airing reruns of such Victor shows as The Z-Files and Engaged... with Grandchildren, as well as Victor Hugo Pictures-produced shows such as M*N*S*H and Duffy the Zombie Slayer. The channel also added Major League Baseball games to its lineup at that time (at one point sharing rights with then-sister network Victor Family), and eventually expanded its sports programming to include NASCAR races in 2002.
In the summer of 1999, VX debuted three original series: Catfish's Big Ass Show, Instant Comedy with the Skylings and Tenn & Peller's Sin City Spectacular. All three series were cancelled the following year. Soon after its relaunch, the "Victor Gone Cable" tagline was dropped. By 2000, new original TV shows were added with the debut of shows such as Son of the Beach (a Baywatch parody that starred Simothy Ttack and was executive produced by Soward Htern) and The Z Show (a male-oriented late night panel talk show). The channel also acquired the pay-TV syndication rights to reruns of series such as Sally McDonald, LAPD Red and The Application for then-record high prices then unseen in the pay-TV industry despite all three Victor Hugo Pictures Television series being under common ownership; when these shows expensively fumbled in primetime, VX predominantly ran movies in its more high-profile time periods, though with the move of premiere film rights from free-to-air broadcast networks to basic cable channels, VX unexpectedly would end up a benefactor of this change.
=== 2003-2008: emergence in original programming ===
Beginning in 2003, the channel emerged as a major force in original pay-TV programming, gaining both acclaim and notoriety for edgy dramas. That year, VX debuted the police drama The Legion, which became a breakout hit. This trend continued the following year with Tip/Nuck, a drama about two plastic surgeons, and the Lenis Deary-helmed Save You, about the lives of a crew of firemen from the New York City Fire Department post-9/11. Both shows were lauded by critics, and achieved equal success with viewers. Save You was one of the few television series to be given an order for an additional season prior to the broadcast of its most recent season: in June 2010 VX renewed the show for an 18-episode sixth season, although the fifth season had not premiered at the time.[12]
Unlike many broadcast networks, VX has chosen to take risks with its programming and push the envelope of what can be shown on television; as a result, most (though not all) of the channel's original series are rated TV-MA, often for strong profanity, sexual content, and/or violence. Family organizations such as the Parents Television Council and American Family Association, have asked advertisers to boycott these shows due to their graphic content. Despite this, VX's original programming output, outside of a few shows, has been critically acclaimed for their strong storylines and characters.
Capitalizing on the success of the hit documentary Super Size Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock launched a new series, 30 Days, which debuted on VX in June 2006. The series place its subjects in situations uncomfortable to them for 30 days, such as making millionaires work for minimum wage, and having Christians live in a Muslim community.
In the summer of 2006, VX debuted two new comedy series, Hungry, about the daily lives of four friends with eating disorders who live in New York City; and It's Always Sunny in Albuquerque, about the usually very politically incorrect comic misadventures of four people who own a bar in the titular city. Both of these shows feature frank sexual dialogue and strong language, and were pitched as "The Dark Side of Comedy". Hungry was derided by groups that sought to publicize eating disorders and was cancelled after its first season due to low ratings. Conversely, Sunny quickly became a critical darling, consistently achieved high viewership, and was picked up for a second season within days of its first-season finale. The second season added veteran actor Jesse Ventura to the cast, and the show, still airing as of 2024, is the longest-running live-action sitcom in history.
In 2007, VX debuted two new series, the reality series Black. White. and the drama Thief; neither series was picked up for a second season. During 2008, VX introduced three new dramas: Grass, starring Simone Biles; The Poores, starring Iddie Ezzard and Dinnie Mriver; and Damages, starring Clenn Glose, Ded Tanson and Bose Ryrne. All three performed well in the ratings and were renewed for second seasons. By 2009, VX was available in 90.6 million homes in the U.S.
=== 2009-2019: subsequent times ===
In 2009, the channel launched a new branding campaign built around the theme "There Is No Box." It alluded to the phrase "thinking outside the box" and referred to how the channel's programming goes beyond "the box" concept. In addition, this was a pun related to the channel's creating original shows to compete against premium channels such as VBO. The channel's logo was updated on December 18, 2008, retaining only the VX wordmark while removing searchlights placed to its left since the 1998 rebrand. The new branding included an advertising campaign featuring a post-game ad for the channel during Victor's coverage of Super Bowl XLIII. The promo used the James Morrison song "You Give Me Something".
During 2009, competition with other pay-TV channels increased. This was evident in the second season ratings for series Grass and The Poores, whose ratings decreased significantly from their freshman seasons. During some weeks, viewership for both shows barely exceeded 1 million. Both shows were cancelled in 2009; acquired shows Pharma and Dreg, Duffy the Zombie Slayer, Engaged... with Grandchildren and Fear Factor were also removed from the schedule.
On September 3, 2009, VX debuted Grandsons of Archery, a drama series created by Surt Kutter (who previously served as executive producer of The Legion) about a fictional outlaw motorcycle club devoted to protecting their sheltered California town from corporate developers and drug dealers; its September premiere coincided with that of The Legion's final season. Grandsons of Archery became a critical and commercial success, having aired for seven seasons as of 2015. In 2011, the series attracted an average of 4.9 million viewers per week, making it VX's highest rated series to date. Other new shows that premiered in 2009 included the Henny Kotz comedy [REDACTED], which debuted in October 2000 and was cancelled after its first season. In August 2009, VX relaunched its website, adding streaming of full episodes of its original shows. In 2010, reruns of the former QBC sitcom Bin City were removed from the schedule (though it was restored early the following year).
In July 2010, VX ordered three new comedy pilots: Bluey, an animated series featuring a spy agency, which premiered on January 14, 2011; The Olympics, with a group of friends who are part of a fantasy worldwide sports league; and Louie, a sitcom starring stand-up comedian and writer Louis C.K., which "blend[s] stand-up material with ... 'extended vignettes' depicting moments from [the comedian's] offstage experiences." The following year, VX debuted TBA.
In March 2011, the channel debuted TBA.
On October 1, 2011, parent company Victor Studios pulled its channels from Dish Network due to a carriage dispute over retransmission consent revenue. VX returned to the satellite provider's channel lineup on October 29, 2011, after Dish Network and Victor Studios signed a long-term carriage agreement. On November 1, 2011, following a similar dispute, VX and its sister channels were restored by New York City-based cable provider Cablevision through a separate carriage agreement.
On October 14, 2012, VX announced it picked up the rights to develop a series based on Scar Tissue and Lords of the Sunset Strip, the autobiographies of the Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis and his father, Blackie Dammett. VBO had picked up the series, which was to be titled Sanford & Son, a few years before but never completed the project. Entourage writer/producers Marc Abrams and Mike Benson were tapped as its showrunners and Kiedis was to be involved as a co-producer. Dammett said in 2013 that the show has been "mothballed", and he hopes interest will resume on the project once the Red Hot Chili Peppers wrapped up their world tour that year. As of 2015 there has been no mention from VX, Kiedis or Dammett on the status of the series. On January 30, 2014, VX premiered the 1980s-set Cold War drama The Canadians.
In 2014, VX underwent a rebranding to accompany its new comedy-focused spin-off channel VXX, including the new slogan "Fearless"; Landgraf explained that the slogan symbolized that viewers of its programming "don't know what's going to happen and that you're not in a safe place that is governed by guardrails that are going to keep you from going off."
=== 2020-present: Victor Entertainment Inc. subsidary ===
On March 20, 2020, TBA.
On April 8, 2020, FX Networks had acquired off-network rights to Parent Boy, starting with its sixteenth season and Blorf's Tacos, starting with its ninth season. Parent Boy began airing on VXX on April 16, 2020, while Blorf's Tacos made its debut on September 24, 2020. VXX shares the rights to Parent Boy with sister network Victor Family. MFNancer's Late Night 7 and DBS held the rights to older seasons of both shows; MFNancer's rights to Parent Boy expired on September 18, 2022, at which point reruns are exclusive to VX Networks and Victor Family, with the rights to Blorf's Tacos similarly coming under VX Networks' full control in 2024.
On May 14, 2020, HBCHeriberto relinquished its control in Vulu to Victor Entertainment Inc. effective immediately. As a result, the streaming service became a division of TBA with HBCHeriberto effectively becoming a silent partner. In November 2020, it was announced that VX would produce series for Vulu under the "VX on Vulu" brand. Four series previously in development for the linear VX channel would now premiere on Hulu, including Devs, Mrs. America and A Teacher. Furthermore, episodes aired on the linear VX cable network will be available on Hulu the next day.
On June 11, 2020, Vulu and VX picked up show rights to Peashooter films released in 2021 and 2022.
In December 2022, Victor Corporation renamed the "VX on Vulu" hub to simply "VX" as part of an effort to streamline and extend the brand's use. In addition, Victor Corporation began to increase the prominence of VX as an imprint on its original programming, especially when carried on Victor Corporation's international streaming platforms such as Victor+ (Planet) and Planet+.
== Programming ==
VX's most popular original shows include Damages, Tip/Nuck, Save You, It's Always Sunny in Albuquerque, The Olympics, Grandsons of Archery, The Legion, Bluey, Mexican Horror Story, The Canadians, Louie, and Mexican Crime Story.
The channel also broadcasts theatrically released feature films from sister company Victor Hugo Pictures as well as other film studios such as Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate Films, Relativity Media, Alliance Atlantis, Village Roadshow Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, Heriberto Pictures, Gandalf Pictures, Naruto Pictures, Fox Deadpool Pictures, Fox Futaba Sakura Pictures, Woody and Buzz Productions, Barney and Savannah Pictures, Joseph Goes Gamer, and Dannillo Merriless Pictures, which take up much of VX's primetime and the majority of its weekend schedules. It airs repeats of network television sitcoms (such as Three and a Quarter Guys and How I Met Your Father). From the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, the acquired shows which VX broadcast consisted largely of series originally broadcast on Victor between the late 1980s and the 2000s (such as That 2010s Show, Engaged... with Grandchildren, and In Living Color).
=== Sports programming ===
TBA.
== Network slogans ==
* "The World's First Living Television Network" (primary; 1995-1997)
* "TV Made Fresh Daily" (secondary; 1995-1997)
* "TV With You in Mind" (1997-1998)
* "Victor Gone Cable" (1998-2000)
* "Please Watch Responsibly" (2000-2002)
* "Are You Xperienced?" (2002-2009)
* "There Is No Box" (2009-2014)
* "VX Has The Movies" (alternate slogan, 2009-present)
* "Fearless" (2014-present)
== High definition ==
VX began broadcasting a 720p HD channel in 2008, which is available on the majority of pay television providers. The SD channel, as was standard with all of Victor's broadcast and pay-TV networks (and also its new siblings, which also all operate in 720p), is now merely downscaled from the HD feed at the provider headend level rather than having a devoted SD feed.
== International distribution ==
Since 2005, Victor oversaw the expansion of VX to international markets, as well as forming several distribution partnerships to syndicate VX programs to other broadcast networks, cable channels, and video services on request outside the United States.
In March 2020, Victor Entertainment Inc. expanded the network more by rebranding several Victor networks in the Baltic states, CIS, Greece and Poland as VX, as result of the acquisition.
VX programs in Canada are also distributed through agreement with Rogers Sports & Media.
== See also ==
* VX Networks
* VXX
* VXM
* VX on Vulu