Its programming is centred towards action and crime series.

Since 1 October 2007, RTL Crime was launched on Sky Deutschland.

[1] On 1 September 2011, a localised feed of the channel was launched in the Netherlands.

On 15 May 2012, the channel launched its own high-definition simulcast feed, which started to be carried on Unitymedia.

On 25 September 2014, RTL Crime HD was launched on Sky Deutschland.