Five Restructures Programming Team

Five has restructured its programming team and is searching for a director of programmes for its main channel.

The new director of prgrammes will report directly to Five managing director of content, Lisa Opie, with the restructure intended to simplify the reporting structure under her.

Sport, news and current affairs, factual entertainment, comedy, and children’s programming will report directly to the director of programmes.

Acquisitions and scheduling and planning will report to Opie as will newly appointed director of programming, Five Life and US, Hannah Barnes.

Opie said: “By streamlining the reporting structure of the programming team we will be better placed to have a unified sense of brand ownership across all genres as well as becoming more nimble and responsive editorially.

“This new structure will allow us to make the most of commercial opportunities in terms of converging content across Five’s family of channels and allow us to share creative expertise within the programming teams.”

As it approaches its 10th birthday, Five’s flagship station has seen its annual share of viewing in recent years follow a downward trend. The restructure could in part be a bid to improve the channel’s performance. The shift away from its main player, however, could also be due in part to viewers migrating to Five’s new digital channels, Five Life and Five US, which it launched last year (see Five To Launch Two New Channels).

Earlier this week, Hannah Barnes, managing editor of Sky One, Two and three, was announced as the new controller of Five Life and Five US, taking over from Nick Thorogood (see Five Digital Controller Replaced).

Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv