Back in June, Consolidated Services discussed the announcement that Channel 4 have decided to relocate their headquarters out of the capital. Now just five months after our post, the broadcaster has announced that Leeds will be the base for their new home, out beating favourites such as Birmingham and Greater Manchester.
Around 200 staff members will relocate from the capital by the end of next year, following the decision made by the Channel 4 board. This relocation also includes the establishment of a new TV studio and Channel 4 News bureau, allowing the nightly news programme to be co-anchored from West Yorkshire.
The board stated that each competing city were to meet certain requirements. Each candidate were to have a population of more than 200,000, and a travel time to London timing less than 3 hours, as well as high quality physical and digital infrastructure.
Will this move change Channel 4?
On the shortlist, frontrunners were Birmingham and Greater Manchester, with Andy Street, the West Midlands Mayor, stating repeatedly he was confident of winning the contest, as Greater Manchester was able to point to the growing media industry centred on the BBC and ITV’s established presence in Salford Quays.
However, it was the West Yorkshire city that came out on top. The Channel 4 Chief Executive, Alex Mahon, stated “Leeds put forward a compelling and ambitious strategy for how they could work alongside Channel 4 to further build the strong independent production sector, in the city and develop new diverse talent from across the region”.
Channel 4 also announced that Bristol and Glasgow were chosen to house two new smaller creative hubs, outbeating Cardiff. This takes the total number of Channel 4 workers moving out of London to around 300. The majority of their staff, including Mahon herself will remain in the capital, but the chief executive expects to spend a significant proportion of her time in Yorkshire and the other regional bases.
Mahon also said the decision to choose Leeds was highly influenced by the ability to establish a presence close to independent production companies in Yorkshire and the north-east, factors that were undeserved by the other broadcasters. “It’s a vibrant and growing city. It has a really, really strong production sector… they were very strong in terms of their partnerships and they have a diverse community across the Leeds-Bradford region.”
“The news of Channel 4 choosing Leeds will have a very positive impact on these generation and is a real triumph for the city and wider region.”
She accepts that this relocation would be a big change for Channel 4 staff, but said it would allow Channel 4 to live up to their mission of diversity and inclusion. Channel 4 do not make their own programmes, they instead commission shows from external production companies. This would ultimately benefit them from being more ‘in touch’ with the rest of the UK population and therefore, become more commercially and creatively successful.
The leader of Leeds city council, Judith Blake, said “Together with Bradford, we have one of the youngest and fastest-growing labour markets in the UK. The news of Channel 4 choosing Leeds will have a very positive impact on these generation and is a real triumph for the city and wider region.”
Government Pressure
This relocation came about following pressure from the government to boost the broadcaster’s presence outside of London. Although the broadcaster is commercially funded, it is owned by the government, giving the channel a unique place in the British broadcasting environment.
In their 2017 election manifesto, The Conservative Party placed forward a relocation and pushed for a full move out of the capital. However, Charles Gurassa (Channel 4 chairman) warned that a full or substantial move would cause “significant difficulties and problems”.
They eventually settled on a compromise that will now only send 40% of jobs out of the capital. Following the announcement, culture secretary, Jeremy Wright told BBC News:
“Congratulations to Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow, and I look forward to Channel 4 taking further steps to increase its impact around the UK in the years ahead.”
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