In the wake of communism's downfall, Polsat launched in 1993 the first independent television news service in Central and Eastern Europe, revolutionizing the media landscape.

[1] Alongside Zygmunt Solorz, the co-founders were Andrzej Rusko, Józef Birka, Aleksander Myszka, Wiesław Walendziak, Heronim Ruta and the deceased Piotr Nurowski.

It originally broadcast from a studio in Hilversum, the Netherlands, and imported programming had to come by plane (over 1,000km between the two countries) to prevent licensing issues.

[2] Its initial broadcasting reach was very small at only 20% of the population, but was considered to be attractive for advertisers, as most of its viewers were found in larger cities, had a significant overrepresentation of under-50s and had higher incomes.

1993 was marked by firsts, the first large-scale talk show on a private television channel (Na każdy temat) premiered in October of that year, which was made popular by the introductory phrase "a helicopter has landed at the Polsat skyscraper", even though Polsat wouldn't have an actual skyscraper as its facilities until 2000.

[1] A group of nine young journalists at the Polsat TV newsroom at Aleja Stanów Zjednoczonych 53 initiated the first independent news program in Central and Eastern Europe during the summer of 1993, airing live every evening as "Informacje."

[4] [5] In late January 1994, talks emerged of a possible buying by News International, owned by Australian-American media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, shortly after the network was awarded the right to broadcast terrestrially nationwide.

[6] In 1994, Polsat won the bid for terrestrial television broadcasting, surpassing local and international competitors, and in the summer of that year, announced that a new schedule was to be introduced that autumn, with the aim of becoming "better, more attractive and perfect", in the words of director of programming Bogusław Chrabota.

[1] Polsat started buying in more content from more profitable international production companies, whereas TVP responded by changing its primetime schedule to be more competitive.

Tadeusz Drozda gained a satirical program of his own (Dyżurny satiryk Pracy) in 1995, with 350 episodes broadcast in a period of nearly six years.

The channel's first homemade TV series premiered in 1995, Próby domowe, while Informacje gained a media analysis spin-off called Sztuka Informacji, renamed Boomerang in 1998.

The channel became among the first in Poland to use virtual studios and started its own membership club (Klub Polsatu) in September of that year.

In December, the network started airing Mikołajkowy Blok Reklamowy (Santa Claus's Commercial Break), similar to TVP1's Reklama Dzieciom, at Christmas.

[1] One of the 96 people killed in the Smolensk air disaster was Piotr Nurowski, who had worked with Polsat since the beginning and helped establish relations with Eutelsat in 1992.