Launched in 1992 after a series of delays and following the British Medical Television experiment, the channel showed programming intended for specialist audiences, such as businessmen, lawyers, nurses and teachers, and was designed to be viewed after broadcast via a video recording.

[2][3] A spiritual predecessor of BBC Select intended for members of the British health care profession, called British Medical TV (BMTV), based in Woking and active in the internal video market for GPs initially producing monthly video tapes[4] as early as 1984,[5] aired encrypted health care-related programming during the overnight hours of BBC1 and 2 between 1988 and 1990.

Once the BMTV broadcast finished, the DTR would instruct the doctor to rewind the tape, and play it in the following morning.

[4] Programming consisted of a BMTV News bulletin, instructional programmes provided by entities such as the Royal Society of Medicine and ended with the Stopwatch Datapages – a text service with information of interest to the medical industry, with each section being colour-coded to enable easier recognition, even while fast searching.

In September 1989, it was announced that Michael Checkland, at the time Director-General of the BBC, would give the corporation a 15% share in BMTV and expanded the existing subscription service, by setting up a subsidiary company.

On 31 January 1990, BMTV made its last broadcast; at closing time, it had 4,000 subscribers, each one paying £90 per year to receive the service.

There were no plans for mainstream programmes; one of the plans was to dedicate slots to specialist interests such as natural history, and, if possible, a service provided by RTÉ for Irish expats living in the United Kingdom, at the time the UK had 800,000 Irish born citizens.

In 1992 and 1993 Cable & Wireless used BBC Select to broadcast highlights of their annual general meeting (AGM).

[4] A preview broadcast was shown in the clear showing the contents of France Panorama, Deutschland Heute and España y las Américas.

The concept behind TV Edits was, according to the narration in its free preview, "authantic programme extracts first broadcast on television in France, Germany and Spain", selected each year and grouped into themes.

German and Spanish programmes consisted of highlights from documentaries, news reports, interviews and pop videos, as well as television adverts.

[3] The system was very similar to what British Sky Broadcasting were using for their analogue satellite transmissions, but was modified due to technical limitations of terrestrial TV.

The presentation featured a single gold circle in centre screen with the BBC Select caption beneath.

[1][14] The ident featured the circle that began rotating, becoming a coin, City of London seal, a rotating machinery part, a retracting telescope, stage light, aeroplane Jet engine and film reel before finally becoming the circle again.

In these five-minute breaks, a filler was used that composed the static ring logo against a background that constantly and gradually changes colour, to an extended version of the ident music.