Gaelic broadcasting dates back to 1923, and a Gaelic Department was set up within the BBC as early as 1935, but right up until the 1970s Gaelic broadcasting remained minimal in scale, not least on television, which few areas of the western highlands and virtually none of the islands could receive before the 1960s.

The establishment in 1985 of BBC Radio nan Gàidheal led to a steady increase in the amount of Gaelic language hours broadcast and a broadening of the geographical range. Today Gaelic radio programming exceeds 40 hours per week and is accessible not only to the great majority of the Gaelic-speaking population but also to the great majority of the Scottish population as a whole.

Gaelic television expanded rapidly as a result of the Broadcasting Act 1990, which established the Gaelic Television Fund administered by a committee of the Independent Television Commission to grant-aid Gaelic television production. The Broadcasting Act 1996 extended the scope of the Fund to cover radio, and in the following year the Committee changed its name to Comataidh Craolaidh Gáidhlig - the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee, which was mandated to fund Gaelic programme production and development, and to conduct training, audience research and related activities.

In 1999 teleG was established as the first daily digital Gaelic TV channel in Scotland. Broadcast on Digital Freeview, it operates for just one hour (6pm-7pm) each day, TeleG is operated by SDN, which was recently purchased by ITV plc.

In 2000 a Gaelic Broadcasting Task Force chaired by Alasdair Milne produced a report which recommended the establishment of a Gaelic Broadcasting Authority to run a new digital Gaelic television channel. This was followed by the 2003 Communications Bill, which provided for the setting up of Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig - Gaelic Media Service (GMS) with a brief to decide on the future development of Gaelic Broadcasting services and ensure that a wide and diverse range of high-quality programmes in Gaelic are broadcast or otherwise transmitted for viewing in Scotland.

GMS is currently working with BBC Scotland to establish a dedicated digital Gaelic-language television service for Scotland. In March 2007 Culture Minister Patricia Ferguson pledged an additional £3 million per annum towards the cost of this new service. Scheduled to launch in late 2007, the new channel, which is estimated to cost between £16 and £17 million, will combine television, radio and online, offering Gaelic speakers, learners and all who have an interest in the language access to a wide variety of programmes and resources distributed via a range of broadcast platforms.