The Authority consisted of a board of members appointed by the Home Secretary under the chairmanship of Richard Burton, former chairman of Gillette UK, and an executive staff headed by Jon Davey as Director General.
The first was the grant of licences, following a competitive franchising procedure, for the provision of services over a new broadband cable system in a specified geographical area.
Franchises were to be exclusive, and were granted after examination of the applicants' financial capacity and their plans, according to a series of criteria laid down in the Act of Parliament.
To this end the Authority was required to draw up codes on programme standards (covering taste and decency, accuracy and impartiality of news, etc.
Although this was achieved through the licences granted to cable operators, they were usually just the local distributors of national broadcasts, and the Authority's dealings were in practice with those who provided the programme channels.