Asianet was promoted by Dr.Reji Menon in 1991, when satellite television broadcasting in India was at its nascent stage.

Asianet undertook cable distribution through a wholly owned subsidiary, Asianet Satellite Communications Ltd., to ensure last mile connectivity anywhere within Kerala.

Asianet commenced operations by the end of 1992 and started telecasting by August 1993. Then, state owned Doordarshan broadcaster was the only customer for Malayalam programmes. Asianet decided to develop in-house production facilities and now has a production team with studios at Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), Kochi and Kozhikkode.

Asianet began its operations by telecasting for two hours daily in 1993 which was increased to round the clock. The franchise started a second channel 'Asianet Global' targeting gulf malayalees. The channel was relaunched as Asianet News on May 1, 2003 signifying an increased stress on news and current affairs in deference to viewers' demands. On July 23, 2005 Asianet launched its third channel - Asianet Plus, a complete entertainment channel. Another channel Asianet Suvarna has been launched in the Kannada office.

In 2008 STAR TV become a majority shareholder in Asianet Communication Limited.