Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir (the knowledge network).

Earlier – before completion of the switchover to digital broadcasting on 29 November 2011 – the channel's analogue frequencies had carried the programmes of the Franco-German cultural channel Arte between 19.00 each evening and 3.00 the following morning.

It was launched on 28 March 1994 as a temporary channel under the name Télé emploi (Teleworking), more than one year after France's first privately owned free television network, La Cinq, suffered a financial collapse and ceased operations on 12 April 1992.

La Cinquième started broadcasting on 13 December 1994 with a mix of small educational programs, during the hours not used by Arte (which launched less than 2 months after La Cinq's closure).

France 5 broadcasting hours have been extended to 24 hours a day, initially available only on cable and satellite, and since spring 2005 on air within the new digital broadcasting multiplex "R1" network that supports all national public TV channels.