The title was introduced on February 27, 1974 in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions, a territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

In March 2001, certain assets of WCW were sold by AOL Time Warner to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE).

As such these assets, including the rights to the WCW World Television Championship, inactive since April 10, 2000, were now WWF property.

Rival promotion WWF was featured on NBC as Saturday Night’s Main Event, but never established a TV Champion or title.

The last champion was Jim Duggan, who claimed the title while working as the WCW janitor after Scott Hall threw it in the garbage and he found it in a dumpster.