The letter E also stands as a short cut form of Eenadu, a Telugu newspaper owned by Ramoji Rao.

[4] ETV was launched on 27 August 1995[5][6][7] by Ramoji Group which owned Eenadu, the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper.

[8][9] The company leased a high-quality transponder on the Intelsat satellite system, and uplinked from Padduka near Colombo, Sri Lanka.

[9][10] Its initial programming included children's programmes like Sabash Tin-Tin, Baboi Dennis (the Telugu-dubbed versions of animated series The Adventures of Tintin and Dennis the Menace), film-based programmes like Cinema Quiz, Cinemasala, Hats Off (hosted by veteran film actor Nutan Prasad), Masterminds, a children's quiz, women-centric programmes like Vasundhara, Chitti Chitkalu, Ghuma Ghumalu etc.

[15] In February 2017, ETV entered into an exclusive partnership with over-the-top (OTT) content provider YuppTV in the United States.