1992–1994 When Polsat was in its planning stages, the network was practically unheard of. Network representative Piotr Nurowski together with its first head of feature films Oskar Sobański, entered the editing team of the
Film magazine on 12 November 1992, with Sobański asking to its staff for a position in the new network. The following day, one of the initial members of the staff sent a package of movies for the channel, to begin planning for the 5 December launch. Alongside Zygmunt Solorz, the co-founders were Andrzej Rusko, Józef Birka, Aleksander Myszka, Wiesław Walendziak, Heronim Ruta and the deceased Piotr Nurowski. A part of them still work at Grupą Polsat Plus. Its initial broadcasting reach was very small at only 20% of the population, but was considered to be attractive for advertisers, as most of its viewers were found in larger cities, had a significant overrepresentation of under-50s and had higher incomes. The owner and main founder of the channel, Zygmunt Solorz-Żak, originally planned that after the regulation of radio and television regulations, the television headquarters would be located in Wrocław, but ultimately they were located in Warsaw. 1993 was marked by firsts, the first large-scale talk show on a private television channel (
Na każdy temat) premiered in October of that year, which was made popular by the introductory phrase "a helicopter has landed at the Polsat skyscraper", even though Polsat wouldn't have an actual skyscraper as its facilities until 2000. The talk show was, as the name suggested, about every topic, including taboo topics for the time. On 5 October 1993, Polsat gained a license from the National Broadcasting Council to broadcast terrestrially, as the channel was concerned about making money on satellite broadcasting alone. In late January 1994, talks emerged of a possible buying by News International, owned by Australian-American media tycoon
Rupert Murdoch, shortly after the network was awarded the right to broadcast terrestrially nationwide. No final decisions had been taken under the grounds that Murdoch was not a legal member of the consortium. Had Polsat accepted, Murdoch would take up to 33% of the shares. Polsat had said that its bid for the national license were under the grounds that its license was a "purely Polish bid with no foreign links".
1994–2000 In 1994, Polsat won the bid for terrestrial television broadcasting, surpassing local and international competitors, and in the summer of that year, announced that a new schedule was to be introduced that autumn, with the aim of becoming "better, more attractive and perfect", in the words of director of programming Bogusław Chrabota. 1999 was marked by premieres of two successful local series,
Rodzina zastępcza and
The Lousy World.
2000–2006 Polsat moved to its current premises, an actual skyscraper built by Wojciech Kluk, in 2000. In May that year,
Muñeca brava aired on the channel, leading to a successful visit of lead actress
Natalia Oreiro to Warsaw, attracting fans to receive an autograph. In September it premiered an adaptation of the Danish Hugo format and the sitcom , with 187 episodes. On 29 December 2000 it broadcast
Home Alone for the first time, becoming a cult classic in Poland in the coming years. In March 2001, the network premiered (Two Worlds), among the first Polish reality shows. Polsat moved to its current facility in 2002, at a skyscraper with a heliport on top, a dream from that came into fruition.
Idol, the local adaptation of
Pop Idol, premiered in March. The channel started its own music festival in Sopot () in 2003. On October 11, 2004, was replaced by the current . In December, the network started airing (Santa Claus's Commercial Break), similar to TVP1's , at Christmas. The proceeds of the advertisements seen in the break are handed over to treatment and rehabilitation of children.
2006-2021 On February 27, 2006, Polsat introduced a new identity developed by German company Velvet. The network held the first of its annual New Year's specials with its celebrities at the end of 2006, in Kraków, surpassing TVP2's equivalent, which was held that year in Wrocław. The main channel started airing Formula 1 races in 2007 at a time when Robert Kubica was competing. That same year, Polsat bought its own HD broadcasting van and started converting its channels to high definition, starting with Polsat Sport; the main channel did so at the time of
UEFA Euro 2008, coinciding with the launch of
Polsat News and the simultaneous relaunch of . In 2009, the Polish version of
The Moment of Truth premiered. One of the 96 people killed in the
Smolensk air disaster was Piotr Nurowski, who had worked with Polsat since the beginning and helped establish relations with Eutelsat in 1992. Polsat was responsible for the production of the presidential funeral, which was pooled between it, TVP and TVN. On Christmas Day 2010, Polsat aired Home Alone due to viewer requests, after excluding it from the planned Christmas schedule. The airing alone attracted 4 million viewers Polsat rebranded again on February 27, 2019, replacing its longest-serving look after thirteen years on air.
2021-present At the end of 2022, information emerged that Edward Misczak had entered Grupa Polsat Plus. On January 16, 2023, he became its director of programming, replacing Nina Terentiew. ==Identity==