Fernseh was founded in Berlin in 1929 by four partners: John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch, Zeiss Ikon and D. S. Loewe. The company began as Fernseh AG that researched and manufactured television equipment. In 1939, the company was turned into a GmbH when Bosch took complete ownership. During the Second World War, the company's name was temporarily changed to Farvis to help disguise operations. After the Second World War, television technology was forbidden, but radio technology was supported by the Allied governments. So, Fernseh began developing devices that could repair and test radio equipment. When the ban on television broadcasting was lifted in 1949, Fernseh GmbH moved its operations to Darmstadt, and in 1952 regular television operations could resume in the FRG.

In 1972, Bosch renamed the company Fernsehanlagen GmbH and the company supplied most of the studio equipment for the 1972 Munich Olympics.

However, in the 1980s, increasing overseas competition led to the transfer of the company into a joint venture with Philips to form the Broadcast Television Systems (BTS). However, Bosch eventually withdrew from this entirely which saw the end of Fernseh in 1986.