About eight million people in the North-West of England were served by the Authority's transmitting station at Winter Hill, near Bolton. This station was constructed on the summit of Rivington Moor, a fine site 1,450 ft above sea level.

Construction work began in September 1955 and the station went into service on 3rd May 1956. The aerials, mounted on a 450 ft tower, gave coverage to almost the whole of Lancashire and Cheshire, as well as to parts of Shropshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and North Wales, from a substantially circular radiation pattern.

In 1966 the coverage of the stations was improved when the aerials were transferred to a new higher mast erected adjacent to the existing tower. The new mast was 1,015 ft high and came into service on 28/02/1966, and although it was built primarily for the UHF colour transmissions which started in November 1969 it brought an improved VHF service to a number of areas.

The new mast at Winter Hill was designed and built for the Authority to incorporate many novel features. In place of the open lattice type of tower, the new design uses curved steel segments to form a 9 ft diameter cylinder for the 650 ft mast column. A 350 ft lattice section on top, together with the capping cylinder, brings the total height to 1,015 ft. The cylinder, weighing about 240 tons, stands on a 10 ft high reinforced concrete superstructure. There are fifteen mast stays and nine anchor blocks.