The series offered airtime to Canadian organisations to inform Canadians of their concerns and opinions.
Groups applied to the CBC for the opportunity to produce an episode of Access.
Successful applicants were given assistance by CBC staff to develop their programme in a four-week production time frame.
Contents of the programmes were subject to CBC policies regarding political promotion, fundraising and defamatory content, in addition to CRTC regulations.
Access aired during the middle of each year, prior to the start of the fall programming season.