Up until the late 1980s, it was a 12-hour channel,[1] switching broadcasts adjacently from one of Emirates Dubai Television's frequencies starting at 2:00 pm, U.A.E.
[2] From the late 1990s, its popularity started dwindling due to availability of alternate channels in English as well as the expat communities native languages via growing use of satellite TV and mainstream cable (E-Vision in 2000).
On 1 October 2002, it started transmitting over the satellite using Arabsat and Nilesat initially over a two-month trial period of four hours,[3] and turned into a free-to-air 24-hour channel on 2 December, the national day, even though retaining the children's block timing at 2:00 pm.
It originally aired popular US TV shows, UK comedy, horse racing, daily news and every Thursday at 10.00pm, a Hindi movie subtitled in English.
The Hindi film ceremony Zee Cine Awards was also shown in February 2004, which took place in Dubai.