In May 1990, HTV, the ITV franchise holder for Wales and the West of England, acquired Vestron UK and renamed the company to First Independent Films.

The company's main third-party partner was Turner Entertainment Co., with First Independent distributing products from Castle Rock Entertainment, Turner Pictures Worldwide Distribution, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and select New Line Cinema releases (alternating with their main UK partner Entertainment Film Distributors).

The company began to meet its demise after Turner Entertainment Co. was sold to Time Warner in 1996 and Warner Bros. took over distribution of Turner's properties from them, aside from New Line Cinema releases which reverted fully to Entertainment Film Distributors.

[1] Columbia TriStar Home Video's UK operations purchased First Independent's assets and remaining library shortly afterwards and folded the theatrical and home video divisions under their banner.

Sony continued to use First Independent as a secondary brand for its archived titles on VHS and DVD, although no new products were released under the name.