Carolyn Fairbairn Appointed New Freesat Chairman

Freesat, the joint free satellite service from ITV and the BBC, has appointed ITV director of group development and strategy Carolyn Fairbairn as its new chairman.

She will take over when the current Freesat chairman, Tim Davie, steps down from his role at the organisation in September, following his appointment as BBC director of audio and music (see Tim Davie To Take Over From Abramsky).

Fairbairn, who was one of the principal architects of Freeview, joined ITV in March 2007 as director of group development and strategy.

The chairmanship of Freesat will alternate annually between ITV and the BBC.

Meanwhile, Freesat has announced that NME Radio will be included on the platform from today. The station will be one of the first commercial radio services made available via the service.

Sammy Jacob, managing director of DX Media, says: “We’re committed to making NME Radio available on as many platforms as possible. We believe Freesat will become a significant platform, especially as the UK moves closer to total analogue switch-off.”

Freesat: www.freesat.co.uk