Online video and TV production company Bellyflop TV has located to Stockport Business Incubator in Houldsworth Village.
Stockport Business Incubator, officially opened in October 2008, has transformed 12,000 sq ft of Broadstone Mill in Reddish into 22 state-of-the-art units with business incubation facilities. The space was refurbished to provide high quality facilities for nurturing and developing small businesses with the potential for high growth. Bellyflop TV joins a growing community of creative and high-tech firms in Houldsworth Village, with more than 80 companies employing 450 people based in incubator and managed workspace units.
Bellyflop TV’s founder Jonathan Robinson worked for numerous television companies throughout his career including ITV, Channel 5 and BBC before setting up Bellyflop TV. Stars In Their Eyes, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Children in Need and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway are just some of the shows that Jonathan has produced and directed. He’s lived with Uri Geller for three days, worked with Ant & Dec whilst they were dressed as Japanese schoolgirls, and rubbed Danni Minogue’s shoulders mistakenly thinking she was the show’s usual presenter!
Councillor Dave Goddard, Leader of Stockport Council and Chair of Stockport Business Incubator Company, added: “The Council and Broadstone Mill Ltd have jointly invested over £650,000 in Stockport Business Incubator to ensure a supportive environment for new companies, with the aim of increasing initial success rate and nurturing development during a company’s vulnerable start-up period. Businesses in and around Stockport can now benefit from Jonathan’s wealth of experience. We welcome Bellyflop TV to Broadstone Mill and wish them every success in the future.”
Jonathan creates professional video content for online and broadcast channels, and always seeks to create unusual attention-grabbing visual content. He points out that: “the next few years will be very exciting as far as online video content in concerned. In Japan, right now, you can download an hour of video content in 16 seconds. Films on websites will become the norm. But the trick is making online video content look as professional as a TV clip, rather than appearing cheap and naff”.
Tony Walker, Incubation Manager at the University of Manchester Incubator Company (UMIC) who has played a major role in developing the Stockport Incubator says: “Business incubators can make the difference between success and failure. We find that 85% of our incubating firms are still in business after three years. Compare this to the national average survival rates for all small businesses of 50% after three years. We’re keen that Bellyflop TV thrives and grows in Stockport’s Incubator, and believe Jonathan will make a real contribution to the northwest’s creative and media industry”.
Jonathan chose to locate in the Stockport Business Incubator as he was convinced it was the right location for Bellyflop TV: “I was attracted to the convenient location and the flexibility of the workspace on offer. I’ve received support through the Winning Business Academy and BusinessLink which was invaluable in helping me focus and gave me the confidence I needed to develop a viable business model.” He continues: “Being surrounded by other small companies is great for support. The cost and flexibility of the unit is also perfect when I’m just starting out.”
