The owner of Scottish Television is pushing for a historic transformation of the commercial broadcaster's status which will enable it to sell programmes to the BBC and boost Scotland's share of network production.

SMG has begun lobbying politicians and regulators to have STV classed as an independent producer rather than a broadcaster, arguing that the latter classification leads to it being "unfairly inhibited" from producing television programmes in Scotland.

SMG executives believe that reclassification could also help reverse the decline of Scotland's share of network television production and mean they could sell more products to the BBC.

Because SMG, which through STV produces programmes such as Scotland Today, Taggart and Rebus, is "non-qualifiable" as an independent producer, any programme made by it is not attractive to the BBC, because it does not count towards the corporation's list of independently produced material.

Rob Woodward, SMG's chief executive, met with MPs and members of the House of Lords in Westminster last week to present his case for re-classification, and SMG has employed an independent counsel to help legally pursue its case. Mr Woodward told The Herald that a recent EC directive, the Audio Visual Media Services Directive, will help SMG in its case. The directive says that a "broadcaster" is one with control over selection and scheduling of content - a type of control reserved to ITV, which shows STV programmes.

Alan Clements, who used to run independent producers IWC, is to join SMG as its new director of content from September 15.

SMG hopes the status of the company will be changed in the next year, so that he can oversee a large increase in content production, which it believes at the moment is "severely hampered" by its status.

However, to make the change in status, SMG will have to convince the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in London.

Next month it will meet with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to try to change its status, as well as consulting with Ofcom, the broadcasting watchdog.

With change of status, SMG would be able to sell and make more programmes and attain a "critical mass" of production in Scotland from its headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow.

Mr Woodward said: "Content production is core to our future growth plans. We are making good progress but our current lack of independent status is a real impediment preventing us from operating on a level playing field.

"We believe that a strong SMG Productions is good for the industry in Scotland and we're talking to the relevant bodies to seek change."

A briefing note prepared by the company setting the case for re-qualification adds: "SMG can be a significant player in the creative industries in Scotland, retaining and developing talent, and making a substantial contribution to the Scottish economy."