It represents more than 300 companies and individuals involved in media production, asset management, preservation of historical archives, film restoration and post-production.

The high cost of Archive management, preservation and storage and the introduction of new formats was also endangering many film based collections.

[1] The founders included Jill Hawkins from BBC Enterprises (now BBC Worldwide), Pam Turner of Visnews, David Warner of ITN, George Marshall of British Pathe, Sten Frykholm from the Swedish broadcaster SVT, Jacque Blanchard, from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Patricia Gang of National Geographic.

With the support of a close group of individuals from both BBC and Visnews including Alan Stoner, Jeremy Cantwell, David Wratten as well as researchers Kirsty MacCalman and Jane Mercer, FOCAL launched officially at MIPCOM in 1987.

The FOCAL International Awards were established in 2004 to support and honour the researchers, technicians and producers who uncover, preserve and utilise archive footage in their work.