It is headquartered in Kawran Bazar, Dhaka, and is Bangladesh's first privately owned television channel to broadcast news and current affairs programming.

'Committed to change') slogan, which is still used today,[3] as a privately owned nationwide terrestrial television network, the first of its kind in Bangladesh and the region of South Asia in general.

Ekushey Television was later shut down in 2002 by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government after being accused of telecasting news reports biased against them and operating under an "illegal" license.

[4] Ekushey also broadcast worldwide, including the United Kingdom via satellite for the Bangladeshi residents there, and in several other regions such as the rest of Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the Indian state of West Bengal.

[16] In September 2000, two Dhaka University teachers and a pro-BNP journalist filed a suit, alleging that the agreement between Ekushey Television and the government of Bangladesh was unlawful.

[17] On 26 September 2001, Ekushey Television was ordered by the High Court of Bangladesh to temporarily halt broadcasts amid the upcoming general election, as they had ruled that the network had no proper rights to do so.

[18][19] In March 2002, shortly after the BNP government of Bangladesh took over, the High Court declared that the license issued to Ekushey for broadcasting was "illegal".

They were also accused of "unfairly" using the facilities of Bangladesh Television, and for being biased against the BNP and its Islamist allies, although Ekushey denied those claims and stated that their news programming was not politically aligned and was always neutral.

[22] The general-secretary of RSF, Robert Ménard, sent a letter to information minister Tariqul Islam, saying that the closure of ETV was "a dramatic backward step for viewers in Bangladesh".

[29][30] On 24 January 2008, Ekushey Television received a fax message, telling them to cancel the telecast of the channel's two popular live talk shows.

[33][34] On 12 March 2012, cable operators in many areas around Bangladesh have imposed a temporary blackout on Ekushey Television, along with the unrelated Banglavision, after both channels have reported on a BNP rally in detail.

[39] The chairman of Ekushey, Abdus Salam, was subsequently arrested in a case filed under the Pornography Act of 2012, as the network allegedly aired a false report on a girl in one of their programs, Ekusher Chokh.

[41] On 25 November 2015, a media release issued by the network that day stated that S. Alam Group of Industries had acquired Ekushey, in an auction on 8 October.

[51] A Bangabandhu Corner dedicated to Bangladesh's founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was inaugurated at the headquarters of Ekushey on 20 June 2022.

[52] On 8 July 2024, Rabiul Hasan Avi was appointed as the new managing director and CEO of Ekushey Television, replacing Pijush Bandyopadhyay as the latter.

[53][54] Shortly after Sheikh Hasina's resignation following the non-cooperation movement on 5 August 2024, the former chairman and CEO of Ekushey Television, Abdus Salam, returned to the channel.

[58][59] In 2012, Ekushey Television was accused by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of broadcasting illegally without a radio equipment license and with its withheld frequency.