The channel was launched in Europe in September 1997 and time shared initially with the failing NBC Europe until NBC Europe's demise in 1998, at which point it began timesharing with Fox Kids (in the UK, replacing the failed first iteration of Sky 2); with analogue transmission of the channel ending, and the sale of Fox Kids to Disney, timesharing was eventually superseded by 24-hour broadcasting.

The channel's musical signature is the Elmer Bernstein composed theme that has also appeared on the National Geographic broadcast-TV specials.

The channel is owned by the NGC-UK Partnership, which was formed in 1997 as a joint venture between National Geographic Television & Film, a division of the National Geographic Society and British Sky Broadcasting through its Sky Ventures division.

This meant that BSkyB owned half company, while the National Geographic Society and News Corp held 25 percent share each.

[6] Rob Jarvis, who is well known as Eddie in Hustle is one of the two main male promo voices for this channel, along with Adam Longworth from XFM radio station.