If Channel 4 were a city it would be Sheffield. Now the city has released key extracts of its bid to host the national broadcaster.
Sheffield’s filmmaking community were invited to contribute to a short video about why Sheffield is the perfect fit for Channel 4. Over 200 submissions were received, and the video was produced, edited and sound-tracked by local talent.
Alongside this, Sheffield worked with key local creatives such as Warp Films and Doc/Fest and the local digital and creative industry to develop the bid document.
The video and a summary of the bid document is available at www.c4sheffield.com.
Channel 4 will announce its shortlist on 30 May.
Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Business and Investment at Sheffield City Council, said:
“We believe we have set the bar very high and don’t think any city can offer the exact combination of location, culture, diversity and talent that is so important here.
“Sheffield has announced itself confidently as a place where Channel 4 will feel instinctively at home, enabling them to build upon its reputation for fearless, revolutionary broadcasting and television. We feel our bid is ballsy and cheeky, but with real depth.
“It makes me proud to be from Sheffield, and I think others will agree with me.”
At the heart of the city’s industry-backed bid are the locations just minutes away from the Sheffield Railway Station that could provide a new home for the broadcaster.
It includes a potential home at the iconic Park Hill development as well as space at the city’s Digital Campus close to the station. Various options have been identified including refurbishments, new builds or so-called hipster hangouts.
Insiders say Sheffield is almost unrivalled in terms of the combination of journey time from London and between other cities around the UK, especially across the North, a critical element of Channel 4’s requirements.
And with Sheffield’s two universities, the UTC and Sheffield College close by as well as digital companies like The Floow, Human and wanDisco in the city’s thriving cultural industries quarter, bid insiders say they have a “compelling case” for a Channel 4 move.
Sheffield is also putting diversity and a network of digital and hi-tech businesses – best demonstrated by the recent announcement of a new £3m Tech hub at Castlegate – at the heart of its bid to Channel 4.
The city now supports more than 22,000 digital jobs with a digital GVA of £339m.
To access the submission, go to www.c4sheffield.com
