The University of Wisconsin got its MTV.

For the first time, students living in campus residence halls received mtvU — the popular cable channel's 24-hour college network — Thursday as part of the basic cable package provided by UW Housing.

"You won't see Britney or Christina Aguilera on this channel," mtvU General Manager Steve Friedman said about the one-year-old cable station that primarily consists of music videos. "It's a channel for and by college students to showcase what they're doing."

mtvU was first introduced on the UW campus in November, when the cable network brought in Bill Gates as surprise substitute teacher for a UW computer class as part of mtvU's "Stand In" series.

The event marked the beginning of mtvU being broadcast on UW's digital-cable network, DATN, available over the Internet.

According to UW DoIT officials, mtvU and UW then negotiated over the next two months to make the channel a part of the university's basic cable network.

"It's now available in any university building," DoIT Programming Specialist Brian Rust said. "It's piped through all the dorms and several other buildings."

Friedman said mtvU is channel no. 80 in the university's basic cable network.

As part of the programming mtvU provides, Friedman said the station gives away grants — "in other words, cash," Friedman said — every week of the school year.

Friedman said mtvU organizes contests for college students nationwide and suggested that such a contest for artists is approaching.

"We're looking for the best new artists out of the college scene," Friedman said, adding a band from Milwaukee received a deal from Universal Records as part of a similar contest for musicians last year.

However, Friedman said "Stand In" is probably the most popular series on mtvU.

Along with Gates, mtvU has brought in Madonna, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, John McCain and Rev. Jesse Jackson to be substitute teachers for a day at various universities across the country.

Despite its newness — the station has been available to students for less than a day — mtvU has already impressed many UW students.

"It's pretty good," UW freshman Nate Armour said, adding mtvU had a good mix of punk, rock and rap music videos. "It's something to keep on in the background and do homework to."