Levira, an Estonian media services company that provides broadcast infrastructure for clients including France 24, PBS America, and Warner Bros/Discovery, has established its UK operations at aql's Salem Chapel data centre in Leeds. The newly formed Levira Media Services Ltd will use the facility for high-capacity storage, media transcoding, playout, and distribution services aimed at UK broadcasters.
The choice of aql is rooted in an existing relationship. aql's founder and chairman, Professor Adam Beaumont, serves as the Estonian Honorary Consul to the UK and Isle of Man, and has been active in promoting Leeds as a digital media hub — work that previously helped attract Channel 4's national headquarters to the city.
aql's Leeds facility hosts the UK's first internet exchange outside London and provides carrier-neutral connectivity with high-capacity links to Europe, the Nordics, and the Baltics. For Levira, whose operations depend on low-latency, high-bandwidth connections to its Estonian base and European clients, this connectivity profile was a deciding factor.
Establishing a state-of-the-art facility in Leeds ensures we can deliver the same quality, resilience, and innovation that Levira is known for across Europe, now tailored to local needs. This is about long-term partnership and building a sustainable foundation for growth.
We've built an environment that fuses proven broadcast performance with forward-thinking, IT-driven innovation. This facility is not just about capacity; it's about enabling UK broadcasters and media organisations to adapt faster, collaborate more closely, and embrace technology built for the future.
Victoria Butt, Levira's media operations director, described the range of services that will operate from the Leeds facility: content preparation, media management, transcoding across formats, and live playout and distribution. The end-to-end service model positions Levira as an outsourced broadcast infrastructure provider rather than a simple colocation customer.
We welcome our new friends and are looking forward to supporting their growth and resilience with their footprint at our historic headquarters, which is also an Estonian Consulate! I'm proud to have helped strengthen UK-Estonia ties and build many new relationships with the UK and the region.
The deal is a modest but notable addition to Leeds's growing media infrastructure cluster, which now includes Channel 4, several production companies, and an expanding pool of digital connectivity assets.
