The broadcast signals of the eleven television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of North Carolina and Georgia.

The South Carolina General Assembly in 1958 authorized a study to see if instructional television could assist the state's public schools.

Dreher High School in Columbia, South Carolina lent its library to be the study's studio.

[1] Following the study's success South Carolina Educational Television Commission (ETV) was created as a state agency, on July 1, 1960.

In 1963, the Commission launched the first open-circuit (broadcast) educational station in South Carolina, WNTV in Greenville.

[2] Despite the DTV Delay Act national transition extension to June 12, 2009, SCETV discontinued the analog signals of its 11 full-power stations February 18, 2009.

SCETV initially planned to make all eleven of its television stations capable of airing local programming.

Four full-fledged stations were built and staffed in Beaufort, Rock Hill, Spartanburg and Sumter before the idea was abandoned in the early 1980s.

ETV HD is the primary feed with high definition content from PBS and SCETV broadcast in the 1080i resolution format.

Additionally, Rock Hill's WNSC-TV is carried on Charter Spectrum's systems on the North Carolina side of the Charlotte market.

On DirecTV and Dish Network, WRLK-TV, WNTV, WITV, WNSC-TV, WJWJ-TV, WEBA-TV and WJPM-TV are respectively carried on the Columbia, Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, Charleston, Charlotte, Savannah, Augusta and Florence/Myrtle Beach local feeds.

The South Carolina Channel, ETV World and SCETV PBS Kids have yet to be offered by satellite services.