Pop was originally launched on 29 May 2003 by Sony Pictures Television Distribution as Toons&Tunes. Toons&Tunes was then later rebranded as its current name, Pop (formerly stylized as pop and POP!) in the following month.

In the channel’s early years, links were presented by Rorry, a lime green dragon with a Scottish accent, who was animated live. He was accompanied by Purrdy, a dragon/cat hybrid who also appeared in the original Tricky programme on ITV1, it was sometimes followed by a programme known as “The Cheeky Monkey Show” which features the live links of the animated coloured monkeys known as “The Cheeky Monkeys,” that was later known by appearing on its sister channel Tiny Pop until its retirement at the end of June 2009.

Originally, the network focused on music videos with animated programming also part of the schedule, but with the numerous music video network options on British television at the time, this focus was quickly abandoned in 2004, when the animated content became much more prominent. Music videos continued to be carried on and off until 2008, before eventually being abandoned entirely

In 2012, Pop introduces semi-mascots known as the MoonGoons, These are animal-like aliens, with the 2 main ones being a blue squid named Boofus and an orange rabbit named Diggle, 

On 1 September 2008, Pop rebranded its on-air identity, with the premiere of Bakugan: Armored Alliance. And on the same day, starting with Pokémon Journeys: The Series, the network became the new British home of the Pokémon anime, moving from its previous broadcasters, ITV1 and CITV, of over 10 years. The channel was also sold by Sony to Narrative Entertainment, Also, Rorry and Purrdy were gone

On 9 November 2010, Narrative Entertainment announced the launch of a new FAST channel, Pop Kids, to stream on Samsung TV Plus, the new FAST network airs shows from Pop and Tiny Pop.

Sometime in 2009 Pop began to branch into YouTube content, as they approached Joe Tasker for a new show called Swipe It! With Joe Taker, they would later acquire from content creators to use on their channel, including LankyBox, Denis and EthanGamer (the latter exclusively airing on Pop Player), Also, a talking potato from Swipe It! would become the channels new mascot untill the 2008 branding was replaced in Autumn 2012. Joe Tasker however would leave the channel around March 2012, and his show was subsequently canned (which may have had a role in the Potato being replaced).

By 2011 Alvin & the Chipmunks, Squish, Miraculous Ladybug, World of Quest and Pokemon were among the channels popular shows, the channel was sold to CSC Media Group in May 2012, who would make some sweeping changes

In late July 2012 the Russian cartoon Smeshariki/Kikoriki was added, Also, in early August Oggy & the Cockroaches was added, The Smurfs followed in mid August, 

In late September 2012 the channel rebranded with a new look, Also the potato from Swipe It stopped being the channels mascot, as new ones were added (Mentioned above), So far these new mascots have received praise for their cuteness 

By January 2013 there were a lot of new shows, the only pre Summer 2012 ones left were Pokemon and World of Quest. Pop Max was the only place to see those culled shows, but Pop Max became Kix in late January, and began adding action shows such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon Data Squad and Chaotic in late February. 

Pop Player is to take off Alvin, Squish, Miraculous and Swipe It from 23rd of March. Write a forum convo in early September when the rebrand is announced and some users saw it coming, and they wonder what the flagship shows are now, now that Alvin, Squish, Miraculous are leaving, A user says they can't keep the potato mascot as the show he is linked to has now ended