The establishing Act required the auction of Channel 3 licences for the fifteen ITV regions[1] and nationwide breakfast time.

Most of the Channel 3 licences were awarded to the incumbent ITV companies; however there were some controversial decisions: On 1 January 1993 these new arrangements came into force, and the ITC began its job of 'light-touch regulation'.

In the early 2000s, the British government, in a white paper, declared its intention to merge the ITC with the Radio Authority, Office of Telecommunications, and Radiocommunications Agency.

At this point, technical standards regulation, previously carried out in accordance with the IBA engineering "Code of Practice", seems to have disappeared from the regulatory landscape.

In 1990, large-scale changes brought about the Radio Authority, the privatization of the IBA's engineering division as NTL, and formation of the Independent Television Commission.