MTV2 in America relaunched on Monday with a new look that is designed to be reminiscent of the early days of the original MTV channel.

"What MTV2 is, while a departure from MTV, is really harkening back to the early days of MTV," said MTV's executive vice president of marketing.

The music-focused channel launched in 1996 when MTV's schedule began to fill up with feature programming and reality TV. With the latest relaunch, typical flashy TV jukebox graphics have been replaced by offbeat bumpers and images - including its new logo, a two headed dog.

MTV2 will remain a mostly music-focused channel, although it has picked up some new original programming in the shape of Video Mods, where characters from computer games replace artists in music videos.

The channel's closest rival in the American TV music video marketplace, Fuse, said in a statement that it "is a testament to Fuse's success that in less than two years our music programming has made such a profound connection with fans that an institution like MTV feels the need to recommit to music."