Experimental television began in Belgium on 2 June 1953 with the live broadcast of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

On 31 October at 20:30 from Studio 5 of Le Flagey, the headquarters of the National Institute of Belgian Radio (INR), Andrée Rolin officially opened the channel.

Transmission began with the French television news relayed by the RTF transmitter TV-Lille (France's first regional station), followed by a cabaret-themed broadcast called Boum.

In the early days, INR broadcast two to three evenings per week, with a strong focus on theatre and drama, and was aired on Fridays and during the holidays.

These were done by Bob Boudard, a cabaret variety artist gifted with a talent of drawing cartoons (and also capable of whistling and interpreting various musical pieces).

Hidden behind the frosted screen, Boudard had to carry out the bulletin on the fly when he arrived at the institute, often at the last minute thanks to taxi drivers who had got to know him and who were ready to go and bring him in time because he had various obligations that kept him busy in Brussels, among others maintaining his cafe on the Rue des Dominicains, a meeting point for many actors from the theaters of Brussels' city centre.

The Brussels World's Fair in 1958 gave the INR an opportunity to strengthen its new television networks and supersede radio.

The INR transmitters were then located at the Palais de Justice in Brussels and limited to a reach in a radius of 40 km.

In 1977, a second television channel was created, RTbis, and the decentralization of production took place with the creation of regional centres in Liège and Charleroi.

RTBF offered cultural autonomy, a monopoly of radio and television broadcasting, freedom of information and of independence from the government.

RTBF would be governed by a board of directors whose members would be elected in accordance with policy distributions within the Cultural Council.

In 1983, RTL Television was launched and obtained the authorization of a radio relay between Luxembourg and Brussels; in compensation, RTBF received access to non-commercial advertising in 1984.

Financial contributions and the on-screen display of commercial sponsors would be permitted in exceptional cases in 1987 to allow the RTBF to organise the Eurovision Song Contest.

Management and marketing of advertising space were entrusted to TVB, a joint venture of public and private channels of the French Community (RTBF 1, Télé 21 and RTL-TVI).

The start-up and closedown video represented an environment made of geometric figures, while the intro of Journal Télévisé showed a 3D view of the district where the Reyers Tower was located.

La Une is available in Brussels and Wallonia via Digital Terrestrial (DVB-T), cable (VOO & Telenet), satellite via TéléSAT and Belgacom TV (IPTV).

La Une is also available in Flanders, TéléSAT and TV Vlaanderen via Satellite, Proximus Pickx, Telenet and Voo.