Peel strikes £22m deal for MediaCity studios

PEEL Media, the developer of MediaCityUK ,has signed a £22m financing deal for state-of-the-art recording and studio equipment.

The asset finance funding from Santander Corporate Banking will be used to equip six HD TV studios and the BBC Philharmonic Studio.

The studios, operated through a partnership between Peel Media and SIS, will be the home to a number of key BBC departments such as Sport and Radio 5Live from this autumn. 

The BBC has a long term commitment to use the studios for shows including Match of the Day, CBeebies and Blue Peter amongst other BBC flagship programmes. 

The studios are also available to hire by other production companies, including ITV, which confirmed in December last year that its Manchester-based arm will relocate to the 37-acre MediaCityUK site in 2012.

Steven Underwood, corporate development director for Peel, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this funding from Santander. They were very flexible and demonstrated a deep understanding both of our business and of the challenges particular to this venture, which is reflected in the deal they’ve put together for us.

“MediaCityUK is a very exciting development which will transform the Salford Quays area into one of the world’s leading hubs for content creation.  As phase one of the development nears completion, we are just starting to make our first programmes and the area is really beginning to come to life.”

Mike Boyes, relationship director, large corporate asset finance at Santander Corporate Banking, said: “MediaCityUK boasts some of the most cutting edge studio technology which has convinced both the BBC and ITV to shift the filming and production of some of their flagship programmes there. 

“We’re very pleased to have been able to provide the funding for these studios and to invest in what we believe will be an exciting and successful future of film-making.

“We look forward to building our relationship with Peel Media further as MediaCityUK continues to expand and we hope to play more of a part in its development.”