If you are looking for a job in television, whether a first job or a subsequent one, then best you get to know the various TV employers out there and what they are doing. There are various lists of broadcasters and independent TV companies, including a selection in my Useful Links, but for a full list of the Top 100 then check out this report from Televisual.

It not only tells you who the top 100  TV indies are but also which programmes they make, their thoughts on commissioning, budgets and finding talent and the problem of retaining rights when selling new shows.

Published in September of this year, the Production 100 survey, gives an account of the state of the main indies in TV production in the context of the global financial downturn. Many report they are getting commissions and sound optimistic but the report does stress that the survey was completed before the European debt crisis.

Anyway information is power as I am fond of saying (or ‘knowledge is power’ as Kofi Annan said!) and this is a useful resource to find out more on the main TV indies, what they are doing, the challenges they face and – on a very practical note – their website addresses!

If you’ve got the time and inclination read the report to get a better understanding of the industry; if you just want a list of useful contact websites then this is a pretty comprehensive one. Job hunters should check them out, identify the companies that are making the sorts of programmes you want to make or are qualified to make and track down their jobs section – or better still find the name of the talent manager or HR person and get in touch.