The company was founded by Singapore Press Holdings on 8 June 2000 in an investment worth $50 million,[3] and appointed local television industry veteran Lee Cheok Yew as its CEO.

[4] By October of the same year, the company announced that five actors and actresses: Kym Ng, Bryan Wong, Darren Lim, Wang Yuqing and Guo Liang have joined their ranks.

[5] The company set plans to launch its two channels by June 2001, aiming to attract at least 30% of Singapore's television viewers.

[12] By December, the company announced that five English-speaking actors and actresses, including local comedy star Adrian Pang, have joined their ranks.

[15] SPH MediaWorks signed a co-operation agreement with Hong Kong's TVB from June 2002, when the contract with MediaCorp expired, but there were no plans for the two to co-produce content.

[29] On 26 April 2001, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority announced it has issued a Nationwide Free-To-Air Television Service Licence to SPH MediaWorks.

[31] In connection to this, Channel U and TVWorks started their campaign to raise awareness of the new services[32] and that, with competition, the quality of local productions would increase.

Channel 8's vice president Khiew Voon Khang said that the ratings slide looked "like a street bump than Mount Everest".

[39] Ahead of the relaunch of More Music as WKRZ, SPH MediaWorks announced that it would carry at least 22 hours of syndicated MTV content per week.

Both radio stations were simply re-branded and resume operations of Heart 100.3FM and More Music 91.3FM previously wholly owned by NTUC Media.

More Music was given a US-style name, going under the fake callsign WKRZ, and Heart FM was renamed UFM, in a tie-in to Channel U.

[46] SPH became the sole owner of MediaWorks effective 25 April 2003, buying shares from Mr. Lee Cheok Yew, Mr. Cheng Shoong Tat, Mr. Ang Wee Chye and Mr. Man Shu Sum for $1.24 million.

In addition, Mediacorp agreed not to publish any soft copy or digital format of Today similar to a hardcopy newspaper for five years.

The charity show featured SPH MediaWorks artistes and guest performers with entertainment and physical endurance segments to encourage the public to donate to the hospital.

Channel 8 moved the PSC Nite Special to the night of the show, an hour ahead of its start, causing confusion and opposite arguments between the two broadcasters.

[69] A Lianhe Zaobao editorial on 17 January revealed that MediaCorp disclosed its donation to the charity and denied its anonymity, over the broadcast of advertisements for Ren Ci Hospital during PSC Nite Special, airing at the same time as the competing telethon.