The channel was first launched by N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar on 24 November 1994, as Golden Eagle Communication (GEC).[1][2] That same year it applied for the line-up of Singapore Cable Vision becoming the first Tamil channel on offer.[3]United Breweries Group acquired the channel in 1995 and renamed it as Vijay TV.[4] The UTV Group bought the controlling interest from United Breweries Group in 1999 for ₹180 million.[5][6] In 2001, Star India took over the channel and rebranded it as Star Vijay.[7] Star acquired 51 percent stake in Vijay TV with UTV holding the remaining 49 percent.[8] In 2004, UTV Software Communications offloaded its entire 44 percent stake in Vijay TV to Star India for ₹31 crores.[7][9]
On 25 August 2016, its sibling channel Star Vijay Super was launched, which airs non-stop films and legacy television shows and later got revamped into a full movie channel with a tagline "Dhool Cinema Dhinam Dhinam".[12]
On 4 October 2020, it launched a music channel named Star Vijay Music.[13][14]
When Star India took over the channel from UTV Communications, the channel's revenue, shares and advertising rates increased.[16] A revamp in 2017 brought with it a new logo and launched Bigg Boss Tamil Season 1, after which the audience share of the channel—which had been 10%-15%—increased by 10%, being the second most-watched Tamil television channel.[17]
In week 48 of 2020, Star Vijay became the most watched Tamil GEC in prime time while being the second most watched Tamil GEC overall after Sun TV.[18] In week 50, it garnered its highest viewership ratings of 7,14,002 AMAs (average minute audience (in hundreds)) being the fifth most watched Indian television channel.[19]
