MAIDSTONE is on course to become Media Capital of the South, according to backers of a new networking and lobbying organisation.

MediaTree Maidstone is the first attempt to bring together some 800 media and creative companies in the area. Around 450 are involved in original programme and advertising content.

Media hubs exist elsewhere in the region, notably in Brighton, but this is the first in Kent. It is capitalising on a rich media legacy bequeathed by TVS Television and the multi-million pound studios opened at Vinters Park in the 1970s.

Although TVS lost the broadcasting franchise in the early 1990s, the studios have continued to turn out great programmes.

The shake-up prompted the departure of hundreds of creative people who then went freelance. Most have continued to live in the area, which is why it is so rich not only in television production but also in advertising.

It has become home to award-winning companies such as Media Merchants, creators of Art Attack and other children’s programmes, and Peter Williams International, producers of documentaries on John Aspinall, the Archbishop of Canterbury and many other fascinating subjects.

Foreign versions of Art Attack have been made at the studios, with overseas hosts staying in the area for long periods, earning valuable revenue for local hotels and restaurants.

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s Pet Productions also operate from there and Challenge TV, the quiz channel, produces many of its programmes at Vinters Park.

Young fans have returned to the gates on Saturday mornings to catch a glimpe of pop stars in The Ministry of Mayhem, a successor to Motormouth and other Saturday morning programmes produced in the studios.

Question Time, hosted by David Dimbleby, is a regular. And the consortium that now owns the Studios, led by former BBC producer Geoff Miles, has invested heavily in a new 12,000 sq ft studio that will accommodate big productions.

Although Meridian moved out to more humdrum premises at New Hythe, the studios became home to a Polish satellite television station. Last November, Meridian came home when Charles Allen, chief executive of ITV, opened its new studio in Maidstone Studios.

MediaTree Maidstone, which is backed by Kent County Council, Maidstone council, SEEDA, Business Link Kent and the Channel Corridor Partnership, will underline this proud tradition.

Nigel Pickard, ITV programme chief, recalled his own debt of gratitude to Maidstone Studios where he developed his career.

He had moved there in 1982. "It was a great place to be," he said. "To a degree, my career became synonomous with Saturday morning TV.

"The legacy of Southern TV, TVS and Meridian lives on with a hard core of talent in all the disciplines living throughout the South East that still work as freelances across the business."

Neal Ashford, of Lavender Blue Media, a Sittingbourne-based corporate multi-media and DVD video producer, is co-ordinating MediaTree.

He said: "We aim to raise national and international awareness of the Maidstone area and encourage new entrants to set up and operate from here."

He added: "Already we have had lots of positive response to the initiative. We have seen how, in other parts of the UK like Bristol, programme makers have transformed their businesses by working together. I know we can do that here and really put Maidstone on the media map."