Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield and a host of other cities, have told the government they want to be the new home of Channel 4, despite a warning from the broadcaster that it should not relocate from London.
A government consultation on Channel 4’s impact outside London has attracted at least a dozen submissions from local authorities across the country expressing an interest in hosting a new headquarters for the organisation.
The local authorities include the West Midlands, which has proposed Birmingham and also Coventry, Solihull and Dudley as potential sites for Channel 4. Birmingham was considered the early favourite when the prospect of relocation first emerged.
Other regions or cities to have expressed an interest in hosting the broadcaster, or at least some of its operations, include Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, and West Yorkshire, which has proposed sites in Leeds and Bradford.
Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, said Channel 4 could “thrive” if it moved to his area because of the young population. The local authority has estimated that the move could boost the local economy by about £5bn over 10 years.
The government first raised the prospect of Channel 4 moving from its £100m base in Victoria, London, in 2016, and the Conservatives also pledged in their manifesto to relocate the broadcaster. However, the election result, which left the Tories short of an overall majority, and Channel 4’s opposition to a move mean the relocation remains uncertain.
However, Channel 4 warned that moving its entire workforce out of London could lead to an exodus of staff and destroy the competitive advantage it had of being “more agile” than its larger rivals.
In its own submission the broadcaster warned that if employees left because of the relocation then they could join rivals and it would have to replace them from a “considerably smaller and less experienced pool of talent” outside London.
Instead of relocating, Channel 4 said that increasing the amount it spent on commissioning programmes outside London would be “the most effective single means of increasing economic impact in the nations and regions in the future”.
Pact, the trade body for television producers, and Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV), have also warned the government against the relocation of Channel 4. The government has received more than 250 responses to the consultation.
