Gas Street Studios

Last updated

Gas Street Studios
ITV Central Headquarters Gas Street.jpg
Gas Street Studios as it appears today (with 2006 ITV Central logo).
West Midlands UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within West Midlands county
Former namesCentral Court (1995-2009), Carlton Television Birmingham (1999-2003)
General information
TypeTelevision studios
Location Birmingham, United Kingdom
AddressITV Central
Central Court
Gas Street
Birmingham
B1 2JT [1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates 52°28′36″N1°54′37″W / 52.476765°N 1.910269°W / 52.476765; -1.910269
Current tenantsITV Central
Construction started1994
CompletedJune 1997
ClientITV Central
LandlordCube Real Estate

Gas Street Studios is a studio complex operated by ITV plc in Birmingham, England. The complex is currently only used by ITV Central for the broadcast of ITV News Central and much of the complex has been sold off for other uses. The complex had also previously been used for other broadcasts including the former home of CITV. Today only 45 ITV Central staff work at the Gas Street Studios, significantly less than in June 1997 when the studios opened and there were over 400 staff working for Central Independent Television at the site.

Contents

History

In 1994, Central's new owners Carlton Communications acquired land on Gas Street, Birmingham, to begin work on building a new digital studio complex, with the intention of replacing Central's Broad Street studios. The new centre was completed in 1997, when Central West's regional news department moved from its Broad Street base. A tribute to the Broad Street studios was broadcast on Central News West. [2]

Branding

The building was originally designed to have the "Central Cake" logo on the outside, however the first branding used was the later Carlton-style logo which had replaced it in 1998. This was itself replaced with the Carlton name from 1999 until 2004. When Carlton merged with Granada, it featured ITV Central branding which was updated in 2006 when the new ITV logo came into use.

Studios

Studio A

Studio A was the main studio when the complex opened. Located in the centre of the building, surrounded by offices and technical space, on the ground level it had a floor space of 51ft x 49ft [3] It was occupied by Central News with a permanently struck set and a space left free for other current affairs based programming, or studio production to use. The studio itself was a conventional studio with a full height lighting grid.

In 2000, CITV moved into Studio A to make use of the larger floor plan and grid height and Central News (West) moved to the former CITV studio.

In 2004, with the removal of in-vision continuity for CITV's programme strand and transmission and playout of the service moving to Granada Television, ITV announced its plan to leave it's studio site at Lenton Lane in Nottingham, and also move the studio and presentation of Central News (East) to Birmingham. Between September 2004 and January 2005, Studio A was decommissioned and split in two to house both programmes.

Studio W (West) and Studio E (East)

The newly split studios were named Studio E and Studio W indicating which programme came from which studio - though both programmes could swap studios or share one as and when required. Studio W had a slightly larger floor plan of 32ft x 49ft than Studio E, which was 27ft x49ft. These also became the first studios to be fitted with the standardised ITV News Group sets after London.

Network productions occasionally came from both Studio W and E, with Nightwatch with Steve Scott having it's links filmed in Studio W, and the People's Millions with Katie Derham using Studio E.

In 2009, as part of a cost-cutting exercise, ITV plc announced that Central's two regional programmes would merge, with a short opt-out at the start of the programme devoted to news to each specific sub-region. One of these would be recorded 15 minutes before transmission using the presentation team from Central News (West). Consequently Studio E became surplus to requirements and was closed.

In 2010, as a result of ITV selling the building, Studio E became a rentable space and is now a Carl Zeiss AG showroom. [4]

Studio P

Studio P was a smaller television studio, built for in-vision continuity for CITV and regional weather forecasts for Central TV. This was normal office space of minimal floor space, but was equipped with soundproofing and a low lighting grid in place of the suspended ceiling. CITV moved to Studio A and Central News (West) moved to Studio P in 2000, before eventually both services shared studio A's floor space from 2001 until 2004.

Uses

Former uses

The complex was used for the in-vision continuity links for CITV until this was moved to Granada Studios in Manchester in September 2004. From its opening until 2005 it was where ITV Central continuity was handled - the last to stop being produced locally after ITV switched to national continuity in 2002, which was broadcast from London. Central's transmission was also handled here until October 2004, when ITV plc closed the department and moved transmission to the Northern Transmission Centre in Leeds.

All networked programming for the ITV network from Gas Street ceased in 2005 leaving only the Central Tonight production from the studios. [5] Central News East was moved to the studios on 5 February 2005 following the closure of Carlton Studios in Nottingham. The East Midlands version of Central News was then presented from Studio E at Gas street until 23 February 2009 when both regions started using the same studio.

Current uses

The only programme currently broadcast from the studios is ITV Central news programme ITV News Central.

The national ITV plc feedback service (ITV Viewer Services) is also based at the complex.

Non-broadcast uses

ITV have since also sold the Gas Street office building to Cube Real Estate, a commercial property developer, which has refurbished the interior of the building. While Central maintains office space and a single ground floor studio, the other studio and floors are available to rent as office space. The property is marketed as 22 Gas Street. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV (TV network)</span> TV network in the United Kingdom

ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition and reduce the current monopoly to the then BBC Television. ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Granada</span> Channel 3 regional service for North West England

ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart. Granada's parent company Granada plc later bought several other regional ITV stations and, in 2004, merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV1</span> British free-to-air television channel

ITV1 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for the central and northern areas of Scotland where STV provides the service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Central</span> Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands

ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the restructuring of ATV and began broadcasting on 1 January 1982. The service is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Historically Central made a major contribution to the ITV network schedule – especially in entertainment and drama – but today its main responsibility is the regional news service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton Television</span> ITV weekday service for London

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television as a single entity, but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of "ITV Broadcasting Limited". Carlton has been branded on air as "ITV1" since 28 October 2002. Carlton Television Ltd, the original holder of the licence, has since been dissolved. Carlton UK Television Limited however is now known as ITV Consumer Limited and legally operates ITV plc's websites. As Carlton's name has no relation to its region, its on-screen identity has been completely removed. Other regions have kept their original company name as a region name and in their local news name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV plc</span> British-based media company

ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Meridian</span> South & South East England TV region

ITV Meridian is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Meridian Broadcasting Ltd was one of several ITV plc-owned regional companies to have its legal name changed on 29 December 2006, when it became ITV Meridian Ltd. This company is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed with Companies House as a "Dormant company".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Digital Channels</span> British media company owned by ITV plc

ITV Digital Channels Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of British broadcaster ITV plc. It manages all of the company's television channels with the exception of ITV1, which is part of the entire network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Meadow Campus</span> Former television production complex

King's Meadow Campus is a university campus, which is part of the University of Nottingham, and is in Nottingham. From 1983 until 2005, the complex was an ITV studio complex called East Midlands Television Centre and later The Television House and Carlton Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The London Studios</span> Former television studio complex and ITV headquarters on the South Bank, London, England

The London Studios in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Television. The studios were located in Central London, on the South Bank next to the IBM Building and the Royal National Theatre. The building was set on 2.5 acres of land and was 24 floors high. The London Studios closed on 30 April 2018. Many ITV programmes now come from Television Centre in White City, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CITV</span> British free-to-air TV channel for children

CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged 6–12. It replaced the earlier Watch It! branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio up until 1987, when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios. In 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw the demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, the operations moved to ITV Granada's MediaCityUK studios in Salford.

The history of ITV, the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.

In the United Kingdom, continuity announcers are people who are employed to introduce programmes on radio and television networks, to promote forthcoming programmes on the station, to cross-promote programmes on the broadcaster's other stations where applicable and, sometimes, to provide information relating to the programme just broadcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Wales & West</span> Former ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom

ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchisee in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to broadcast by the regulator Ofcom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granada Studios</span> Television studio complex in Manchester, England

Granada Studios is a television studio complex and events venue on Quay Street in Manchester, England, with the facility to broadcast live and recorded television programmes. The studios were the headquarters of Granada Television from 1956 to 2013. After a period of closure, five of the six studio spaces reopened in 2018. The studios are the oldest operating purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom pre-dating BBC Television Centre by five years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne</span> Former headquarters of Tyne Tees Television

The Television Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, also known by the street name City Road, was home and headquarters of the ITV contractor for the North East region, Tyne Tees Television, between 1959 and 2005.

This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Central Independent Television. It has provided the ITV service for the Midlands since 1982.

This is a timeline of children's programming on the British ITV network and ITV Digital Channels. The timeline starts in 1980 when ITV launched its first branding for children's programming, although programmes for children had been broadcast on ITV from the earliest years of the network.

References

  1. "How To Contact ITV Central". ITV.Com. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  2. Buxton, Roddy. "A trip to Broad Street". Studio One. Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  3. Planning application reference 1994/03330/PA. Library of Birmingham: Birmingham City Council. 18 August 1994..
  4. "Erection of single storey extension , repositioning of entrance lobby, new gated pedestrian access and installation of new windows at ground floor level". Birmingham City Council. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  5. Deans, James (25 June 2004). "ITV job losses to top 1000". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  6. 22 Gas Street official website