Category Archives: BBC Media City Move

THE end of another long and varied week is in sight.
It began on Sunday night with coverage of Roxanne Pallett being frozen out of Dancing On Ice.
And continued back at the keyboard at dawn today with the story of Gary Barlow and his Comic Relief team reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro…
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SWITCH on your TV and all looks normal.
But behind the scenes ITV is fighting for its very life.
As the BBC today announced a revised package of relocation measures for staff moving from London to MediaCity in Salford…
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HIS job is to deliver a vision of the future.
Peter Salmon is the first Director of BBC North, based at MediaCity in Salford Quays.
In his first interview since his appointment was announced this week, he told me: “We’ve done good things in Manchester.
Now we can do truly great things here.”…
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THE torrential rain did its best to dampen last night’s celebration to mark the BBC’s £250m move to Salford’s Media City.
Suffice to say, after my tram broke down one stop short – I might as well have jumped into the water off Salford Quays.
But there was a glow of bright optimism on the faces of the 200 guests who gathered for a slice of the future on a soundstage at The Pie Factory.
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IT’S the dawn of a new era in Salford today.
Many critics thought it would never happen. They’ve been proved wrong.
A special reception will be held tonight celebrating the signing of contracts confirming the BBC’s move to Salford Quays.
BBC director general Mark Thompson will be there, along with others involved in the historic Media City deal.
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A final word – for now – on the BBC move to Salford.
Some media commentators and critics are still saying it doesn’t make sense.
They might change their minds if they looked at the full background – and the vision of the future planned at Salford’s Media City.
As highlighted in last Friday’s MEN, in the longer term the BBC is thinking along the lines of moving even more parts of its organisation to Salford.
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CHAMPAGNE corks were popping in Salford tonight after final confirmation of the BBC’s big move north.
The news was broken first in later editions of today’s MEN and on our website. It’s been a very hectic last 12 hours.
Just over two years ago I sat in BBC director general Mark Thompson’s office as he revealed for the first time plans to move five departments to Greater Manchester.
I spoke to him again last November when he visited the site of the proposed Media City at Salford Quays.
It was clear then that the move was poised to go ahead, even though many still thought it would never happen.
Today the sceptics were proved wrong.
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THE wind of change was blowing in both Salford and London today.
Delegates at the Television from the Nations and Regions Conference at The Lowry heard from BBC Chief Operating Officer Caroline Thomson, who said a BBC future without Salford was now “almost unthinkable”.
She added: “For the BBC it represents a hugely symbolic and significant shift of emphasis from the capital to the regions.”
Further evidence of that came with renewed speculation that the iconic BBC Television Centre in west London may close.
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THE BBC is facing “very difficult choices” after a Treasury briefing revealed details of the proposed licence fee settlement.
It confirmed months of speculation – mainly fuelled by government leaks – that the BBC is to get a below inflation rise.
The reported deal isn’t as bad for the BBC as some experts had feared but it’s still bad news for director general Mark Thompson.
Although it won’t be finalised and formally announced until the New Year, the settlement agreed within government means the BBC will not have anything like the cash it said it needed for its future plans.
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THE news came in from the House of Commons just after 5pm yesterday.
First there was confirmation that a government decision on the BBC’s next licence fee settlement had been delayed until the New Year.
No surprise there. But what happened next caught just about everyone out.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell – speaking in a debate about the digital TV switchover – unexpectedly turned her attention to the BBC’s move to Salford.
In what may turn out to be the decisive moment for the future of the £400m project, she appeared to back the BBC into a corner.
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