It airs a variety of programs including documentaries, music, news, drama series, sports and children shows for Greater China including China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

In January 1992, CCTV delivered programs to the Americas using Ku- and C-band satellites, in English, for an hour a day.

Later, in 1998, its content was made available in Japan on a joint service called Daifu Channel.

At the same time, the channel was revised and programs were broadcast in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, and started airing 24 hours a day.

On 1 January 2007, the channel was split into three editions:[1] In 2016 Peter Dahlin's forced confessions were aired on CCTV-4.