Channel 4 has confirmed it will enter advanced negotiations with six cities as part of the process to select its new National HQ and two new Creative Hubs.
Advanced negotiations will now commence with three cities to become the new National HQ – Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. A further three will be considered as the Creative Hub – Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow.
That means Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Liverpool have dropped out of the running to become the HQ and Belfast, Brighton, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Stoke have failed to make it as Creative Hub.
Earlier today, Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson revealed that his city had been jettisoned, blaming the fact it is not on the HS2 route.
The announcement follows the second stage of the pitch process over June and July in which teams from Channel 4, including Chief Executive Alex Mahon, Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Allan and Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Dan Brooke visited 13 shortlisted cities and regions for presentations and discussions.
Channel 4 will now enter into detailed discussions with the six selected cities over the summer, a process which will be led by Allan.
He said: “Our visits to the 13 shortlisted cities over the last month were incredibly inspiring and I’d like to thank all of those involved for the huge amounts of creativity they demonstrated and the excitement for Channel 4 and what we could achieve together.
“We have again had to take some very difficult decisions on which cities to take forward to the next stage, but we believe the six cities we have selected are best able to deliver against our vision and requirements for the new National HQ and Creative Hubs.
“The National HQ and Creative Hubs are only one part of our ‘4 All the UK’ plan, which has at its heart, a commitment to significantly increase our Nations and Regions contend spend by £250 million over the next five years.
“We therefore look forward to working closely with all those cities and regions that have been involved in the pitch process, as we look to catalyse that spend and support digital and production companies right across the UK.”
The locations for the new National HQ and two Creative Hubs will be announced in the autumn.
