The channel features mostly English, Mandarin and Tamil news and talk shows, the latter two languages were mainly produced for the dominant minority Chinese and Indian communities, whilst the English news functions for the nation's multiracial population whose dominant lingua franca or first language is the latter.

[5] The then-Information Minister, Senu bin Abdul Rahman announced that Television Malaysia was going to start a second channel with the initial target date for its launch estimated to be on 8 February 1969.

The aim was not to disrupt the programming of the existing channel, which was temporarily blocked to air a Quran reading competition.

The existing channel would be renamed Siaran Nasional while TV2 would be "somewhat commercialised", according to TV Malaysia director Ow Keng Law.

The channel opened at 9pm, starting with a speech by Tunku Abdul Rahman followed at 9:15pm by a special programme introducing viewers to the new television facilities.

[18] Initially it wasn't available in the east coast, when TV Malaysia put wrestling matches on TV2 in 1970, when they were achieving its apex in popularity,[19] viewers in the area were deprived.

[24] In March 1984, TV2 began airing Cantonese and Hokkien dramas, replacing its Wednesday evening Chinese movie slot.

[25] The first regularly-airing Cantonese drama, Women CID, began on 7 March 1984, airing two episodes back-to-back on Wednesdays at 8:30 pm.

[45] In April 1995, broadcast transmissions of TV2 and its sister channel TV1 were disrupted for two hours due to a power surge after Tenaga Nasional's cables went damaged.

[51] A similar proposal made in November 1998, meant to start in January 1999, was to "cut operating costs" and would save RM30 million.

[51] In April 2001, in conjunction with RTM's 55th anniversary, TV2 and its sister channel, TV1 underwent restructuring on their respective scheduling time to adapt with current situation.

[52] On 1 January 2003, TV2 and its sister channel, TV1 underwent programme reschedulling in order to "give a satisfaction" to its viewers and to attract its advertisers.

[61] On 1 April 2006, in conjunction with RTM's 60th anniversary, TV2 and its sister channel, TV1 went rebranding and reverted back to their respective 1978 brand name.

[62][63][64] Since 3 April 2006, the channel began to broadcast 24 hours a day to offer more programmes for viewers who stay up late to watch television.

[70] On 1 April 2019, TV2 has started its HDTV broadcasting in conjunction of RTM's 73rd anniversary, and available exclusively through myFreeview DTT service on channel 102.