On August 25, 1989, the contest was held to obtain three private television licenses, which were granted to Gestevisión Telecinco, Grupo Antena 3 and Sogecable.

[1] Tele 5 began transmissions experimentally in 1989 to officially begin broadcasting on 3 March 1990, although with limited coverage in Madrid and Barcelona.

[4] In 1994, Maurizio Carlotti was appointed as the new director of the network, this with the aim of improving the financial and programme situation, as Tele 5 had lost audiences and advertisers to Antena 3.

[8] During this period, the channel began to be accused of trash TV due to the proliferation of spaces dedicated to gossip and related entertainment, which were present in Telecinco from its creation until 2023.

[15] In 2017, the channel was involved in a scandal due to an alleged sexual abuse that occurred during Gran Hermano, the local version of Big Brother.

[19] In 2023 Telecinco started to eliminate gossip and social affairs programmes for more family-oriented content such as game and reality shows, in addition to establishing a series of guidelines for presenters and collaborators on the channel, to which they prohibited them from issuing political ideas on entertainment programs or criticising other programs on the network and some celebrities.

The channel is also known for its reality shows, having produced a number of popular series in the last decade – Gran Hermano, Supervivientes, Hotel Glam, and Operación Triunfo, amongst others.

It allowed them to broadcast their channels in up to Spanish and original language, stereo sound, interactive services and high-definition television.