London, England - 
Skillset, the sector skills council for the audio visual industries, has partnered with Pembridge to deliver business growth opportunity programmes to 17 leading TV companies.
The Business Growth Opportunity programme is designed to boost 40 independent TV businesses by helping with strategic business planning, opening up lines of finance, training and mentoring.
Pembridge has started work with the first firms, including BAFTA-winning Darlow Smithson Productions. Work with the all 17 will be completed by autumn 2004.
The BGO scheme was developed in consultation with PACT, Business Link for London, major broadcasters, regional screen agencies and a selection of successful independent TV companies and the scheme is funded by the European Social Fund via the Learning and Skills Council London Central with a subsidy from The Independent Production Training Fund to support black and minority ethnic-owned companies.
Dinah Caine, Chief Executive of Skillset, said, "Skillset is very happy to be working with Pembridge. The incredible application response we received for the programme shows how much this type of company support scheme is needed. It's a great time of change for independent production - with the Communications Act - and many of the SMEs, which make up most of the sector, do not have the resources for the kind of in-depth business planning needed to grow in such a competitive marketplace. BGO will help independent TV companies create a strategic business plan, raise capital and manage growth - all of which are vital to the long term success of the TV industry."
Hugh Mason, partner at Pembridge, said "Skillset and Pembridge working together on the BGO scheme brings two industry experts together to create opportunities for a swathe of TV companies from the north east to the south west of the England. The next few months are going to open up exciting opportunities for companies that want to move up a gear and we?delighted to help enable this."
The seventeen top independent TV companies are: Darlow Smithson Productions Ltd; Films Of Record; At It Productions; The Future Is Wild Ltd; Windfall Films Ltd; Common Features Ltd; Reef Television; Quickfire Media Ltd; The Third Man; Videotext Communications Ltd; Enteraction TV; Impossible Pictures; Lodestar Productions Ltd; Keo Films.com Ltd; The Illuminated Film Company, Angel Eye and i2i Television.
