In 2006, C4's Education team made the realisation that if they were to continue to engage their target audience of 14-19 year olds, they would have to go beyond the television.

According to C4 Education's commissioning editor Matt Locke, this meant doing more than simply coming up with a great show and then tacking some online features onto the back of it.

It meant taking a strong idea and delivering it to places where the audience was already: online, through social networks and even via iPhone applications.

Locke said that while this type of programming requires a whole new set of technical skills from traditional TV production, at present his focus as a commissioner is on finding the right ideas and then bringing in the people with the right skills from right across the media sector to make that idea a reality.

But as multiplatform programming matures, the need for specialised professionals is set to keep on growing, meaning the industry needs more and more people with multiplatform skills to produce programmes in the future.

"It seems that the vast majority of the TV sector is underskilled and unprepared for the changes happening now and this reflects my own experience at broadcasters," he said.

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