There is another photo on this link - you can see the location of the warehouse in relation to the Corrie set and the Quay Street studios. There is also the building where they film the inside Corrie scenes.
The cinema with the moving chairs was called the "Motionmaster" I think (it was in the late 80's when I visited the tour).
Granada used to produce their Thursday late-night "forum" type show "Up-front", presented by Anthony Wilson and Lucy Meacock, from the studio/theatre in the tours. At the time I went, this studio was accessed up a grand staircase via the New York DeVere Hotel on the mock-up American street.
Right lets put this into perpective. The studios are styaing wher they are. Coronation Street set is taying where it is. ASll that is moving are the offices from the 1960's style building which everyone knows as Granada TV to the warehouse connected to The Coronation Street set (just along the so-called road after Roys Rolls)
Is that right? The quotes above seem to indicate that the studios are going completely to allow for redevelopment of the bottom end of Quay Street (the warehouse etc are not technically on Quay Street) and the artist impression shows a large public space in front of the building, which would not be possible if the studios stayed.
ITV in London seem determined to get shot of the Quay Street studios, and have been for some time, which I think is a shame. Why is it that when every other industry is migrating out of London to save money, ITV has been gradually moving managerial staff and production out of Manchester to London? Why is Granada's presentation area lying empty when it would be cheaper to run presentation from there rather than London? And yes, I know about Leeds, but I have never understood why Leeds was chosen for northern presentation over Manchester (ok, so they did dual presentation for YTV and TTTV - so what? Granada handled their own pres and Border's too).
Wasn't exactly brand-new (5 years old when Granada joined) but Granada's was as old and antiquated as TTTV's (and Border's for that matter) had been and YTV had invested a LOT of money in their system (much more than it would have cost to run YTV and TTTV separately). It therefore made sense not to throw good money after bad.
I suspect that Granada would have let the four regions run more or less independently had YTV not opened the Leeds pres centre in 93. In that case, Manchester would have certainly become the secondary hub for ITV pres now.
Why is Granada's presentation area lying empty when it would be cheaper to run presentation from there rather than London?
It's easier to base it in London because it has all the technical connections - ITN is there, the BT tower is there and the BBC are there. The only saving would be staff costs but that would probably be soaked up by all the infrastructure to get everythng up to Manchester and back down again
So what does this mean for the future of the Quay Street studios?
Nothing different, ITV still want to move into the Warehouse at the back of Quay Street whether the BBC is involved or not. Nothing ever was confirmed that the BBC and ITV were going to create and share a new facility in Manchester, but both parties made it clear that they wouldn't have minded to work alongside each other with these plans. Or basically just an extension of the current 3SixtyMedia scheme, but as the BBC have made it clear whey they intend to move than I can see 3SM having ended by the end of this decade.
Though I don't think ITV intend to move out of the Quay Street area, it has Coronation Street there, and a building that just needs filling up to create a new base for ITV in Manchester, which is the Warehouse.
Obviously both BBC and ITV have different uses for their buildings, but as they intend to move aload of departments up North then the BBC will need alot of Studio and office space, where as ITV doesn't have to have that much, if anything they need more office space than Studio space. I can see ITV cutting back to one big studio for stuff like
Stars In Their Eyes
and another studio to cater
Granada Reports
and other Regional output.
But AIUI the plans are forging ahead for ITV now, they've been mooting the move for years now, only recently something has been said about it being likely to happen.
As for the BBC, both sites sound good, my only objection for Salford Quays is that it isn't in Manchester City Centre area itself, it's a good couple of miles, but as the article mentions it would be useful for BBC Sport as they're on the doorstep of Old Trafford Football Ground. Though it would be nice to see the BBC stay in the Oxford Road area.
But nothing is going to be confirmed until the Summer, so it's just speculation for now.