It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news coverage of prominent criminal cases.

That same year, Court TV began running several original and acquired programs in prime time, such as Homicide: Life on the Street, and Forensic Files.

"[4][5] Time Warner bought full control of Court TV in 2006 and began running it as part of the company's Turner Broadcasting System division.

The new brand was intended to accompany a larger shift towards action-oriented reality series which did not necessarily involve crime or law enforcement.

[10] Scripps announced affiliation deals with Tribune Media and Univision Communications at that date, in addition to existing Scripps-owned stations.

The first live courtroom coverage was the Covington, Georgia, trial of parents who, after reporting their newborn baby missing in 2017, were later charged with murder.

[14] Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah U.S. Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Court TV currently shows gavel to gavel live news trial coverage under the branding Court TV Live.

Julie Grant hosts Opening Statements from 8 am to 9 am ET, and is joined in later dayparts with Ted Rowlands, Ashley Willcott, Michael Ayala and Julia Jenaé.

On August 11, 2020, it was announced that a new original true-crime series titled Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield will premiere on September 13, 2020.

On 15 February 2021, Court TV joined the Freeview television service in the UK with a short-term deal in order to show the trial of Derek Chauvin.

[24][25] Court TV can also be found on Freesat channel 177 [26] Court TV Canada, a Canadian version of the channel under its previous format, owned by CHUM Limited (and later acquired by CTVglobemedia which then sold its assets to Bell Canada under the Bell Media subsidiary), launched on September 7, 2001.

[27] In 2001, Court TV purchased The Smoking Gun, a website that focuses on legal items such as mug shots and other public documents pertaining to famous individuals and cases.

Scripps relaunched it over SiriusXM on May 15, 2020,[29] but again wound it down on April 21, 2022 after expanding the channel's AVOD video availability as duplicative.