Channel 4 headquarters in Leeds

Leeds is probably not a bad choice, actually. Leeds was the home to YTV which was a major production house for ITV and C4, back in the day.

YTV's base was on Kirkstall Road, still home to the ITV regional production, the major ITV production unit for Emmerdale plus playout for anything that isn't played out from Chiswick. There are also great number of indies based on or close to Kirkstall Road - this will likely have been a big factor in this decision.

Sky, Google and others also have a significant presence in the city. Connectivity is pretty good.

There's also the argument that if they had moved to Salford - where the BBC and ITV already have a major base - then the desired effect of forcing C4 out of London would have had a limited impact.

I think Salford/Manchester was seen as the lazy option, given everyone else is there. I'm glad they've taken not taken the obvious choice, meaning another city will benefit, and hopefully foster the TV production industry beyond the usual suspects of London and Salford.

Also, surely the purpose of the move isn't just to relocate people from London, but to develop talent and production from within other parts of the UK.

Absolutely, it's not an odd decision at all. The whole point of moving elsewhere is to create a new talent pool.

It's not about getting Londoners to move there. That's hardly an incentive to bid.

It's interesting that Channel 4 News will also have a presense although I suspect Jon Snow won't be moving to Leeds!

That's the perfect reason for it not to be Manchester!

Leeds is an interesting choice and a very good one.

But as well as having a hub in Scotland they should also attempt to have a hub in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Birmingham snubbed again. Tsk.

Has Channel 4's remit ever been changed to cover Wales? Perhaps that was a factor?

I heard today from a very credible source, that Channel 4 may not have actually have been based in Birmingham City Centre, if the city had got the nod...

Well if it's "4 the UK" that would suggest to me Wales is included?

Birmingham would have been the safer choice for C4 staff as it's under 2 hours on the train and senior staff could likely ping between the two sites without having to actually base anyone anywhere. I think if they had opted for Birmingham the second HQ would largely have been for show.

Manchester would have been the safer choice for facilities, owing to the scale of MediaCityUK and it already being home to large parts of ITV and the BBC. There would have been little social and cultural gain, however, C4 would essentially have been following the herd - and that's not very Channel 4.

Leeds was a bit of a risk - and that probably suits Channel 4 better. It has a lot of television heritage through YTV and the indies that popped up making use of Kirkstall Road studios. It's also a young city. there is a bigger argument for choosing Leeds for cultural, social and socio-economic reasons.

I hope it works out well for Yorkshire's media industries.

Since DSO C4 has had a remit to cover Wales through its share of the D3&4. S4C was purposely put on its own mux to make C4 into a truly national channel.