TCTV began as an informal study group, the Capital Area Community Television Association (CACTA), in the fall of 1982 and was incorporated in January 1984 as a nonprofit corporation. In 1986, CACTA became Thurston Community Television (TCTV).

Olympia granted a new cable television franchise to TCI Cablevision of Washington in 1985 requiring the company to provide channel space, production equipment, and other services to support the development of community access television.

In 1986 TCTV then signed the first service contracts with Olympia, Lacey and Thurston County to manage public access and help develop educational and governmental access programming. Tumwater became a contracting agency in 1995. These contracts have been revised and renewed over the years to increase funding and better define our services. Our current contracts will renew in 2002.

TCTV chose a membership-based structure to increase user accountability, demonstrate commitment to the principals of cable access, and help defray operating expenses

TCTV wants to make available to cable viewers, programming that reflects the interests and serves the needs of every segment of the community.

TCTV is unequivocally committed to the expression of lawful free speech. Our responsibility is to assist, to the best of our abilities, all residents, nonprofit organizations, schools, and local government agencies in Thurston County in the production of their programs. We will encourage high technical quality, while realizing that the content of the programs is the responsibility of the producers. We hope that this will lead to entertaining, diverse, informative, challenging, and interesting video that, in the aggregate, will appeal to a wide spectrum of the community.