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Television Centre
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Location: A219 / Ring Road / Wood Lane, London, England, United Kingdom.
Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Phone: +44 20 8743 8000
BBC Television Centre
The BBC Television Centre at White City in West London was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. Parts of the building are Grade II listed, including the central ring and Studio 1. Most of the corporation's national television and radio news output came from Television Centre with most of the recorded television output coming from the nearby Broadcast Centre at 201 Wood Lane care of Red Bee Media. Live television events from studios and routing of national and international sporting events took place within Television Centre before being passed onto the Broadcast Centre for transmission. It was announced on 21 September 2010 that the BBC would cease broadcasting from Television Centre in 2013.[1] On 13 June 2011 the BBC announced that Television Centre was on the market, and that it was 'inviting bid proposals from people looking for a conventional, freehold property or those interested in a joint venture', suggesting that it may yet remain connected to the Corporation.[2] The radio and television news departments moved to Broadcasting House just north of Oxford Circus in central London, the traditional home of BBC Radio, as part of an ongoing reorganisation of the BBC's facilities. On 16 July 2012 it was announced that the complex had been sold to property developers Stanhope plc for around £200 million. BBC News moved to new facilities in Broadcasting House on 18 March 2013, and the building remained in active use with many programmes filming in the studios, until it closed officially on 31 March 2013. TVC remained one of the largest such facilities in the world and was the second oldest operating television studio in the United Kingdom after Granada Studios, where, the BBC's main commercial rival, Granada Television was based for many decades.
History of BBC Television Centre:
On Friday 1 April 1949, Norman Collins, the then Controller of the BBC Television Service, announced at the Television Society's annual dinner at the Waldorf Hotel that a new TV centre would be built in Shepherd's Bush. Transmissions at the time came from Alexandra Palace and Lime Grove Studios (from 1949), and had very few television transmitters. It was to be the largest television centre in the world. Riverside Studios in Hammersmith were used from 1954. It was planned to be 6 acres (2.4 ha), but turned out to be twice as big. On 24 August 1956 the main contract was awarded by the BBC to Higgs and Hill, who also later built The London Studios (ITV) in 1972. The building was planned to cost £9m. When it opened, the Director of BBC television was Gerald Beadle, and the first programme it broadcast was First Night with David Nixon in Studio Three. In 1997 the BBC News Centre was opened, in a new complex at the front of the building.[8] The decision to move radio news to this building was attributed to Director General John Birt, a move that was resisted by the then managing director of BBC Radio, Liz Forgan, who resigned after failing to dissuade the governors.[citation needed] Birt's decision caused problems for BBC Radio in particular, for example some politicians accustomed to travelling to interviews at Broadcasting House were reluctant to make the journey to White City,[citation needed] despite being only 4 1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) west.
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