The company Scophony Limited was established by entrepreneur Solomon Sagall in the early 1930s to exploit the patents of inventor George William Walton. In 1932, Ferranti invested £3,500 in the company, however in 1934 Ferranti turned down the option to invest a further £10,000 to re-structure Scophony Limited, and in 1935 EKCO replaced Ferranti as the company's main investor.

In 1936 Scophony Ltd became a public company, with 126 patents on the system.

In 1938, the Scophony company demonstrated three types of 405 line mechanical television receivers at the Radiolympia exhibition in London: a home receiver, with a picture area of approximately 24" x 22" and two systems intended for theater operation, one producing a 6 ft x 5 ft image and the other a 9 ft x 12 ft image.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Broadcasting Corporation stopped television broadcasting. Consequently, it became impossible for Scophony to continue in the commercial development, manufacture and sale of television equipment in England. It therefore sent personnel to the United States, opened an office in New York City, and began demonstrations of its product and other activities preliminary to establishing a manufacturing and selling business in this country.

In 1941, Scophony found itself in financial distress, in part because of restrictions imposed by the British Government on the export of currency. It became imperative that new capital from American sources be found for the enterprise. In 1942 Arthur Levey, a director of Scophony and one of its founders, undertook negotiations in New York with American motion picture and televisions interests, including Paramount and General Precision. They culminated in the execution of three interlacing contracts, the so-called master agreement of July, 1942, and two supplemental agreements of August 11, 1942.

In 1948 Scophony Ltd acquired John Logie Baird Ltd, television manufacturers, and the associate company W. Andrew Bryce and Co, manufacturer of transformers and components. In 1949 the company was renamed Scophony-Baird Ltd.

In 1952, the company changed its name from Scophony-Baird Ltd to Baird Television Ltd. In 1960 Radio Rentals acquired the Baird Company.