EDINBURGH: Channel Five has “tens of millions more pounds” to invest in content, according to new director of programmes Jeff Ford - but has yet to draw up exactly what it wants.

Speaking publicly for the first time since replacing Richard Woolfe, Ford said that new owner Richard Desmond was prepared to invest even more in the right projects.

Ford also allayed fears, at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, that the channel would be driven downmarket following its £103.5m acquisition by Northern & Shell.

“We have a budget of tens of millions more pounds than last year and Desmond says tell me what you want and we can get it which is a great sign for the company and the business. With RTL we had to fight to get £1 from them,” said Ford.  

“We want to get a younger, more upmarket audience and more individuals. To drive the channel downmarket would be commercial suicide.”

Money to spend

He added Desmond had contributed many ideas for shows, which Ford welcomed, but was not interfering with the everyday running of the channel. The pair will travel to LA next week on a four day trip to meet with the US studios.

Ford played down fears that his background was in acquisitions meant he would be investing mainly in imported US series.

“Go to our commissioning teams,” he said. “They are open for business and there is money to spend.”

Programme plans

Popular series such as The Hotel Inspector and Fifth Gear will be extended and there are also likely to be more celebrity travelogues as C5 plays to its strengths.

Factual and fact-ent series are also likely to be on the road-map but entertainment shows are set to take a back seat. “Entertainment is difficult because it has to be on every single week,” he said.

Desmond’s portfolio of newspapers and magazines which includes the Daily Express and OK! Magazine have been earmarked a vital marketing tool as the channel bid to promote its most popular shows. 

But Ford denied a deal had been struck with Endemol to pick up Big Brother.

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