Television Centre will live on as Studios

Thought this warranted its own topic:



Yes, after the BBC moved out of a building "not fit for television production or office space", they'll now be leasing it back. Excellent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/statements/tvc-sale-completion.html

I actually think this is the best move they could have made. Whether we want to believe it or not, The whole of TVC is too big for the modern BBC I think. Anyone who has worked there will know that the place was massive and large parts of the building just weren't used and were left pretty much derelict. At least now the building will be refurbished and used to its full potential, even if the BBC don't use all of it.

Sell a huge chunk of space in one of the most expensive cities in Europe, and then lease back a small part of it on a needs basis. Makes sense to me!

Will it still be called BBC Television Centre though?

So the bbc will still use studio one for Cin ? who else will use that place. Does the bbc have any big studios in London?

I reckon it might revert to officially being called 'Television Centre' but then keeping the BBC sign on it. Especially if they remain the prime occupants.

I would have thought that just 'Television Centre' would be the best, and although while it would be sad to see it, it would also make more sense to remove the BBC from the front

Yes, including BBC Elstree where they've just refurbished the main studio and I think the plan is that they'll use that for most big shows while they renovate TVC. And anyone could use TVC, and do.

Agreed.

I'd hoped/expected/presumed that this would be how things would ultimately turn out, all along.

The studios have already started being leased out to independent production companies and/or non-BBC channels' programmes in recent history anyway (e.g. Harry Hill's TV Burp, The Paul O'Grady Show), so effectively are like "independent" studios already - it's just that the building's owner who is doing the leasing-out happens to be the Beeb.

So, it's essentially just a case of the Beeb changing from "Landlord" to "Tennant" of the same facilities, really.



Surely that would not be possible, for legal/copyright type reasons.

Under their new ownership, I'll wager that the facility will be given a pretty generic sounding name such as "Shepherd's Bush Studios" or similar.

Surely they could exercise "naming rights" like football stadiums do, perhaps for a peppercorn sponsorship fee?

I'd be surprised if it's not simply 'Television Centre'. It's a brand that's no use for the BBC to keep a hold of, so the name may have been included in the deal.

And surely keeping the logo on the building, is acceptable if it's going to be the home of big BBC programmes still. Just as many local shops have a national newspaper logo on their sign, or theatres clearly display what shows they are putting on.

Shops advertising newspapers, theatres advertising shows aren't the same as privately operated studios displaying the previous owners name on them, even if they are the main user of the building.