LONDON - The British Broadcasting Corporation is all set to leave London and is scouring possible sites in Manchester and Salford as the new headquarters of CBBC, Children's Learning, BBC Sport, Radio Five Live, BBC New Media and R&D.
The prospective sites as mentioned are equally distributed between Manchester and Salford. The move is to be completed by 2010, but hinges to a large measure on the approval of the new license fee by the government.
"Oxford Road is simply not big enough to accommodate the media zone. Our objective is that we produce something in Manchester of enormous value to the license fee payers. I think that this is arguably the biggest thing in the BBC's future prospect," said Pat Loughrey, the BBC's director of nations and regions.
He was announcing these new plans on Friday. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has apparently given its nod to this move and has initialed an investment of £50 million.
BBC governors have also given their nod to this move following the Commons motion that was tabled by ten Labour MPs. Around 2,000 jobs are set to move to Manchester along with this new move. "We are convinced that Manchester could steal a march on the whole of the rest of the industry in the UK. Today is a very big stride in a positive direction. We will deliver real value. Value means value for money, cost effectiveness," Loughrey promised.
The planned Media Zone would house the corporation, independent producers, facilities suppliers as well as other broadcasters. The BBC has asked the government to increase the license fee by inflation plus 2.3 percent from 2007 so that it can fund its expansion drive.
Posted
on : Mon, 24 Oct 2005 02:05 GMT | Investments News
By : Rob Davis
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