Northern & Shell’s restructure of Channel 5 gathered pace this week, with staff waiting to hear who had been accepted for voluntary redundancy and speculation that there may not be a direct replacement for chief executive Dawn Airey.

Broadcast understands the offer of voluntary redundancy was over-subscribed, with internal sources suggesting well over 100 people had applied. Northern & Shell indicated last month that it wanted to shed between 60 and 80 roles.

Staff were braced to hear who had been accepted as Broadcast went to press.

There is also speculation that C5 may not employ a chief executive. At present, director of programmes Jeff Ford reports directly to N&S group editorial director Paul Ashford, while director of sales Kelly Williams reports to joint managing director Stan Myerson.

It is thought the structure could be retained, which would keep costs down and ensure a flat management structure with close links to owner Richard Desmond.

Ford revealed at the Edinburgh TV festival that Desmond is keen to remain close to the business and that he would release “tens of millions more pounds” for content.

He said: “Richard has said to me ‘tell me what you want, and we will see if we get it’, which is a great sign for the company. With RTL, we had to fight for every pound.”

Ford said Desmond had contributed many ideas for shows, which he welcomed, but he 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 in acquisitions meant he would be investing mainly in imported US series. “There is money to spend,” he said.

Factual and fact-ent series are likely to be a priority for the channel, with entertainment set to take a back seat.

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