[2] Televisión Española was established at a building of Paseo de la Habana in Madrid, and after some time of technical tests, its free-to-air black-and-white fullscreen standard-definition monaural live analogue terrestrial television transmissions on VHF frequencies were officially launched on 28 October 1956 with a special inaugural program.

[6] The first TVE production for abroad was the coverage for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) of the arrival in Madrid of the President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower on 21 December 1959.

The first live broadcast from abroad to Spain was the second half of the European Cup final match between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt from Hampden Park in Glasgow on 18 May 1960 through Eurovision.

[6] The first full live coverage from abroad to Spain was the Wedding of Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola de Mora y Aragón from Brussels on 15 December 1960, also through Eurovision.

From its antenna located 3,011 metres (9,879 ft) above sea level atop Pico de Santa Isabel, the broadcasts reached the mainland province of Río Muni and the neighboring countries Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon.

After the country declared independence on 12 October 1968, the new authorities accused it of broadcasting "racist programming" and "imperialist propaganda", and TVE ended up closing the station.

[18] On 25 April 1971, the production center in the Canary Islands, which until then had operated autonomously, began to broadcast to the archipelago the live signal of TVE's first channel received from Prado del Rey through the recently launched Intelsat IV F-2 satellite.

On 25 November 1972, TVE produced the very first edition of the annual OTI Festival live from the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos auditorium in Madrid.

TVE won the competition six times: in 1976 with the song "Canta, cigarra" by María Ostiz, in 1981 with "Latino" by Francisco, in 1992 with "¿A dónde voy sin ti?"

by Francisco, in 1993 with "Enamorarse" by Ana Reverte, in 1995 with "Eres mi debilidad" by Marcos Llunas, and in 1996 with "Mis manos" by Anabel Russ.

[21] On 23 February 1981, Televisión Española was recording the roll-call vote for the investiture of the country's next Prime Minister at the Congress of Deputies plenary hall when 200 armed Civil Guard officers broke into the building in a coup d'état.

Prado del Rey was receiving the transmission through an internal closed circuit and half an hour of the incident was recorded.

Fernando Castedo, General Director of RTVE, hid the tape with the footage inside his chair's cushion and sat on it when some military rebels took Prado del Rey for more than one hour.

Each crew returned to Prado del Rey with a copy of the speech in a different car and by different route, escorted by the Royal Guard, and it was broadcast as soon as they arrived.

[26] On 19 May 1989, in response to the European Economic Community (EEC) requirement to separate the natural monopoly of infrastructure management from the competitive operations of running services, and with the imminent arrival of commercial television, TVE's broadcasting network, including the Torrespaña tower, was transferred to Retevisión.

[29] For the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics the Organizing Committee created a host broadcaster expressly, Radio Televisión Olímpica '92 (RTO'92), in order to guarantee that the international signal was produced objectively and impartially.

RTO'92 managed the staff and the production and technical resources hired to RTVE, the Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió (CCRTV), and the EBU.

The European HDTV broadcast of the Summer Olympics was managed by the joint venture "Barcelona 1250" created by RTO'92, RTVE, Retevisión, and PESA, with the financial support of the EEC and a workforce of over 300 production and technical staff.

A total of 225 hours and 45 minutes was broadcast in analog HD-MAC standard in 1,250 lines and 16:9 aspect ratio, with commentary in five languages –Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian– in addition to the non-commentary sound track, of eighteen different sports at seventeen venues, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

On 8 August 2008, regular test digital high-definition television transmissions started on TVE HD in 720p with the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

[34] On 16 November 2023, TelevisaUnivision co-produced with RTVE the 24th edition of the annual Latin Grammy Awards from the Conference and Exhibition Centre of Seville.

Univision took charge of the direction and broadcast it in the United States tape-delayed in the corresponding prime-time of its East and West Coast feeds.

With this, TVE became the first-ever broadcaster to offer its main channel in UHD on free-to-air DTT covering its entire national territory.

With TVE in charge of the television production, it was its first time holding the contest, just twenty years after its only victory with "Antes muerta que sencilla" by María Isabel in the 2nd edition on 20 November 2004.

TVE's territorial centers in every autonomous community produce and broadcast in regional variations in each of them, a shorter midday local bulletin on La 1 and RTVE Play.