It was first announced on 5 August 2007, though its license first appeared on the Ofcom website in January (initially named "Toon TV", this was changed to Anime Central in June).

On 3 August 2009 Showcase TV became True Entertainment and the Anime Central programming block was removed completely.

[4] Over the 2007 Christmas season, from 21 December 2007 until 4 January 2008,[5] the regular schedule was replaced by marathons of these 3 popular anime shows: Nine consecutive episodes of a series were shown each day to form a 4½ hour block, except on the final day of each series' marathon which had fewer episodes.

[6][7] Perhaps as a result of the high demand for both, during late 2007, the last repeat of the night of Cowboy Bebop and .hack//SIGN were broadcast in Japanese with English subtitles.

In response to a request from the channel's brand manager, there was some discussion on the Anime Central Forums about possibly changing the red-on-black theme (amongst other suggestions about programming).

[12] Despite a fleeting suggestion on Sky's Electronic Programme Guide that a new schedule, combining content from Pop Girl, True Movies 2 and Anime Central, might start in August 2008, Sky's EPG quickly reverted to the previous schedule of triple bills and teleshopping.

At the beginning of the new schedule the block carried the same triple bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex that were previously seen in rotation on the full-time channel, however, in October 2008, Anime Central's slot was further reduced to two hours, showing double bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

In August 2009, the last double bills of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In The Shell were shown and Showcase TV was replaced by True Entertainment.