Press Releases 2009

 

BCI AWARDS €4.4Million TO SOUND & VISION TELEVISION PROJECTS

 

 

The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has today (Friday 15th May) announced funding of just over €4.4million for television programming in the most recent funding round of Sound & Vision, the Broadcasting Funding Scheme.

 

112 eligible applications were received from the sector, requesting a total of €20.4m.  Grants totalling €4,426,800 have been awarded to 27 projects which deal with the themes of Irish, culture, heritage and experience. The amount provided marks an increase of €361,000 on the last television funding round.

The funding provided will support the production of programmes in a number of genres including animation, film, documentary, children’s and sports programming. 12 of the 27 projects funded are for Irish and bi-lingual projects, accounting for 63.4% of grants provided.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Chief Executive of the BCI, Michael O’Keeffe, said: “The Commission is pleased to be able to increase the funding allocation to television programming in this round of Sound & Vision, and particularly to provide such a significant level of support for the independent production sector.  In what are challenging times for the sector, Sound & Vision remains an important source of funding for television production and continues to deliver quality programmes for viewers across the country.”

 

To date the Commission has allocated €51.2million to the television sector through Sound & Vision across 260 projects since 2006.

 

The funding awards were approved at a meeting of the Commission on 11th May last, following consideration of recommendations made by the assessment panels. The panels are comprised of external experts from the television sector, subject experts from the relevant thematic areas, and BCI staff members. The BCI will now begin the process of contract negotiations with all successful applicants.

An appendix to this press release details all the television programmes that have been recommended for funding.
 
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Suzanne Sullivan                           or                                Aoife Clabby
Q4 Public Relations                                                          BCI
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