Consequent upon the merger of regional stations to form the NTA in 1977, it became necessary for the organization to streamline training and make it more regular in order to cope with the training needs of the rapidly growing organization; hence the establishment of the Television College in September 1980.  

Since then the College has grown to serve not only the mother organization-the NTA, but also state and private television stations, media units of federal and state agencies, as well as individuals who wish to acquire skills in different areas of television broadcasting.  Today there is no television station that has not had its staff trained at the College.

The NTA Television College since its inception has served as Center of Excellence in the provision of professional and specialized training in the core areas of television: i.e. Broadcast Journalism, Production, Design and Engineering. It commenced its operations with short-term proficiency courses in all the core areas of television broadcasting. The tremendous success recorded in these courses necessitated the introduction of a two-year professional diploma programme in 1985.

To further expand the scope of knowledge and skills of practitioners in the industry, in 2003, the Management set up a Committee to upgrade the academic profile of the College by working out modalities of transforming it into a Degree awarding institution in the core professional areas of television.