[chaose]

I wonder why ITV News chose Leeds to be their emergency studio? Surely a region more closer to London would have been better? Such as in ITV Central regional studio in Birmingham. Even Southampton's Meridian studio is closer to London than Leeds.

Leeds is sort of ITV's northern base. Main playout is done in Chiswick, but the secondary playout is in Leeds. It plays out the northern regions and acts as a backup for the network feed. So it makes sense to have the backup news studio in the same place, i.e. the former Yorkshire Television studios.