WBEC traces its history to the launch of Instructional Television of Broward County, Florida (ITV), a local educational cable channel that debuted in the mid-1970s. Some of the in-school programming that was produced by ITV were also distributed to PBS member stations and other educational television stations throughout Florida, especially as a benefit to those without cable television. In order to have unrestricted use of the Instructional Television Center, in 1984, the Broward County Public Schools district reimbursed the funds it had received from the Florida State Department of Education to establish the center. The center placed emphasis on the production and broadcast of instructional television programming, but it also produced television programs for the community that were carried by cable companies that provided broadcast time to the district. The channel changed its name to Broward Education Communications Network (BECON) in 1998.