Above: RTS Wales members in the studio with the presenter, Andrea Byrne

During February, on the 24th in fact, a group of RTS Wales Centre members visited the new ITV Cymru Wales HQ in Cardiff Bay, which was set up last summer, following the broadcaster's move from its former premises in Culverhouse Cross on the edge of Cardiff.  Huw Rossiter, ITV Cymru Wales' Public Affairs Manager (and a RTS Wales Committee Member), led members on a guided tour of the broadcaster's facilities.  This took in the news studio, the open plan office space, which includes intake and the compact master control area occupying just one desk, and the post production suites.

Huw explained that, following the renewal of ITV's licences at the end of 2014, "there is now a specific Channel 3 licence for Wales, granted by Ofcom, which runs to 2024.  This is good news as we will still be providing four hours of news and an hour and a half of other programmes per week, including current affairs, specifically for viewers in Wales."

Huw also emphasised the importance of ITV's supply of programmes, on commercial terms, to S4C, which includes the Welsh broadcaster's longest running current affairs series, Y Byd ar Bedwar.  Besides news and current affairs, ITV Wales continues to make a range of other factual and entertainment programmes, including the documentary, My Grandfather Dylan, transmitted by ITV in the week of the centenary of poet Dylan Thomas' birth, and The Mountain, a series looking at the lives of people who work on Snowdon.

Members also had the opportunity to view the evening news programme, Wales at Six, being broadcast live.  One Member, who was in the group allowed to sit in the studio, says, "The studio is as it appears on screen, that is to say the pictures behind the presenter, Andrea Byrne, were on large screens.  These days some other presenters sit in front of a green background, and such pictures are inserted electronically, or the whole studio seen on screen could be virtual.  There were four cameras, all fitted with autocue. Three of them were static, to the left, centre, and right of Andrea's desk, and one was moved around by the only cameraman.  The floor manager would stand next to the camera Andrea was intended to speak to.  Their modern TV lights don't generate nearly as much heat as the old ones.  The TV studios in my experience were always hot places, and the noisy air-conditioning had to be turned off during takes, which made it worse."

This impressive new centre, which makes use of the latest technology, certainly reflects ITV's confidence in the future of its broadcasting operations in Wales.