Airey brings back Ford to run Five US and Fiver
- Published: 29 October 2008 18:21
- Author: Jon Rogers
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- Last Updated: 29 October 2008 18:21
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Five has lured back Jeff Ford to run its digital channels and head acquisitions - but new chair and chief executive Dawn Airey has warned that job losses could be on the cards.
Ford, who is Channel 4 head of acquisitions and the head of Film 4, will become Five managing director of digital channels and acquisitions early next year. He had previously worked at Five as managing editor, before joining C4 in 2005.
Ford will run both Fiver and Five US and Hannah Barnes, their current controller, will report to him.
Ford, who bought the CSI strand and Home and Away for Five and Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives for C4, will take a position on the Five executive board and report directly to Airey, who finalised his appointment this week.
On Monday, Airey's first day in charge of Five, she warned staff that redundancies were likely as part of a root and branch review by the Boston Consulting Group. The review is designed to "reduce costs and deliver the best possible value to both our shareholder and viewers".
Airey also tried to rally staff, telling them that Five and its digital channels would be "fun, entertaining, opinionated and populist". "You may love or loathe us, but we will be impossible to ignore," she said.
