It was the only permanently free-to-air television station operated by any associated subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises.

The service launched on 14 November 2005, and was described as a general male entertainment channel with a lower LCN, placing it in the "Entertainment" section of the Sky EPG, as opposed to specialist where its sister channel lies.

The channel aimed to attract men to the pay-per-view Playboy TV, operating on the same satellite service.

As of the week ending 7 January 2007, BARB were quoting a weekly reach of 1,122,000 (2.5%) On 1 October 2008, the channel was replaced with a Paul Raymond-focused channel named Paul Raymond TV, and became encrypted.

The media regulator Ofcom sanctioned Playboy One in 2009 after complaints were made about overtly sexually explicit content shown on air.