ITV expected to shut down Yorkshire studios

Filming on key ITV soaps including Coronation Street and Emmerdale is to be halted tomorrow while staff participate in a conference call about the network's future.

The broadcaster, which announces its financial results for the full year tomorrow, is expected to announce new job cuts of at least 500, leaving only 4,000 staff on payroll. Many of the cuts are expected to come from its production centres in Leeds and Manchester as the network is no longer able to maintain two major production facilities in the north.

ITV Productions' Leeds base was established in the late 1960s by Channel 3 franchisee Yorkshire Television. It is the home of Countdown, which ITV produces for Channel 4, along with Emmerdale, Heartbeat and The Royal. It is now understood that ITV plans to shut down all production facilities at the centre, leaving only the regional news and transmission playout staff in place. Under the plans, Emmerdale would become self-contained at its current filming location, but with far fewer staff, and Countdown could move to a different studio facility elsewhere in the UK. Production on Heartbeat and The Royal has already been suspended until at least 2010.

ITV is currently trying to secure the future of its pension fund and debt position while dealing with a massive downturn in advertising revenues.