Instant news for Yorkshire

GRANADA Television have opened a news studio right in the heart of Leeds.

And that means a vast improvement in news coverage in an area where reporters and cameramen have previously had to race the clock to get material back to Granada’s Manchester TV Centre.

The accent is very much on speed and efficiency. Granada are right now installing automatic equipment which will enable them to control the studio from Manchester.

A programme director sitting at a control panel 40 miles away in the TV Centre, will be able to operate the studio lights and a remote-controlled camera by the flick of a switch.

Then, by pressing one of 10 buttons, he can control the position of the camera during an interview or news bulletin. This will give him 10 different camera shots ranging from a close-up to a profile or a shot of two or three interviewees.

This studio, in Headrow House, is part of Granada’s national TV link-up. They have a similar automatically controlled studio in London, which is operated from Manchester.

The Leeds team will contribute directly to programmes like Scene at 6.30, and Granada in the North.

It will improve election coverage from Yorkshire and be available for national use.

Executive producer David Plowright told me: “The Leeds project is something which we have wanted to launch for a considerable time.

“It will enable us to bring news and interviews from Yorkshire at any time of the day, instead of sending outside broadcast crews there, or having to rush film back to Manchester.

“We have always attempted to give Yorkshire comparable coverage with Lancashire. But in the physical sense, the people of Lancashire have been much more aware of our presence because of the Manchester TV Centre.”

Granada’s robot eye in Leeds is watching Yorkshire closer than it has ever done.