RTL Confirms Dawn Airey Appointment

LONDON, May 1: Five has
formally announced the resignation of chief executive Jane Lighting, with
parent company RTL Group confirming Dawn Airey as the broadcaster’s new
chairman and CEO.

Lighting’s resignation, effective tomorrow, comes five years after she
joined the network. “Five years is a long time to serve at the head of a major
public-service broadcaster and I am hugely proud of what Five has achieved in
this time,” she said in a statement. “I leave the company and its family of
channels in a strong position to meet broadcasting’s current and future challenges.
In particular, we have had a great start to 2008 across our family of channels.
When I came here, we had a single channel strategy. Now we have a powerful
digital offering with Five, Five US and FIVER, our relaunched Five Life.”

On her decision to leave, Lighting commented: “Sometimes in business,
situations occur where a common agreement over strategic direction can’t be
reached and, unfortunately, on this occasion my vision for Five differs to that
of RTL Group, the channel’s owner. It is for this reason I have decided to step
down. I believe that the decision is in the best interests of the company.”

Gerhard Zeiler, the CEO of RTL Group,
said of Lighting: “In a highly competitive and rapidly changing market, she led
the broadcaster into profitability, kept the audience share stable and
increased Five’s share of advertising revenues. Jane is a fantastic person to
work with and I wish her the best of
success and happiness for her future.”

Airey, whose resignation from her post as director of global content at
ITV was announced earlier this week, takes up her new post at Five May 1, 2009,
at the latest. Mark White, the executive director of sales at Five, will serve
as interim CEO until Airey arrives. Zeiler
called her “one of the most experienced
TV executives of her generation. She has held senior roles in all the
commercial terrestrial broadcasters as well as BSkyB. She has a perfect
understanding of programs, audiences, advertisers, the international market and
platforms.”

He continued: “Dawn Airey
will lead Five into the next phase of its development. She will guarantee that
Five will be a vitalized, entertaining and raucous broadcaster that cannot be ignored,
also in the period after digital switchover. I am delighted that we could
persuade her to take the helm at Five and that she will be part of our
management team of RTL Group.”

Airey’s first stint at
Five began in 1997 as director of programs, becoming chief executive in 2000.

—By Mansha Daswani