The channel, which used to be available only to digital television viewers in Australia, was the first digital-only multi-channel for the Special Broadcasting Service.

The SBS World News Channel was officially inaugurated by Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston on 12 June 2002, with the launch broadcast simultaneously live onto the channel.

[3] Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic language broadcasts were added to SBS' WorldWatch schedule in 2003.

The Vietnamese Community of Australia, claimed that the program's lack of reports on political arrests and religious oppression were also offensive, especially to those who fled the country following the Vietnam War[5] The backlash resulting from these events prompted SBS to begin showing disclaimers before all externally produced bulletins, distancing the broadcaster from each bulletin's editorial content.

The channel's programming line-up consisted of retransmissions of bulletins from news services throughout the world, including: These programs are also presented on SBS TV, along with PBS's Nightly Business Report and PBS NewsHour, SBS TV broadcasts World News Australia, and the English version of Deutsche Welle's bulletin.