Image caption Channel 4's current home is in London's Horseferry Road

Birmingham, Greater Manchester and Leeds are all in the running to host Channel 4's new national headquarters, the broadcaster has announced.

The company wants to move 300 of its 800 staff out of London to a national headquarters and two "creative hubs".

The channel confirmed Leeds, Birmingham and Greater Manchester had progressed to the next stage of negotiations.

The three locations are also in the running to house a new creative hub, alongside Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow.

'Difficult decisions'

Channel 4 will now enter into detailed discussions with the six selected cities over the summer.

The Greater Manchester bid is a joint one between Manchester and Salford.

Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel Four, told the department of digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) select committee earlier this year that the final decision would be announced in October, with the actual move happening next year.

More than 30 bids had been submitted from around the UK, which were whittled down to 13 earlier this year.

The latest six-strong shortlist means Belfast, Brighton, Liverpool, Newcastle-Gateshead, Nottingham, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent are no longer in the running for either the new base or a new creative hub.

The channel's chief commercial officer Jonathan Allan said: "Our visits to the 13 shortlisted cities over the last month were incredibly inspiring and I'd like to thank all of those involved for the huge amounts of creativity they demonstrated and the excitement for Channel 4 and what we could achieve together.

"We have again had to take some very difficult decisions on which cities to take forward to the next stage, but we believe the six cities we have selected are best able to deliver against our vision and requirements for the new national HQ and creative hubs."

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