The Stage

Five seeks to become home to ‘big comedic talent’

Published Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 18:15 by Matthew Hemley

Five’s new chief executive Dawn Airey has said the broadcaster is looking to become the home to “big comedic talent” in an attempt to make its output more “fun”.

Airey, who took up the post in October last year, admitted that Five had become a “bit boring” and said: “What we need to do, and have started to do again, is regain our voice and get stars back on the channel. I want us to go back to being a channel that has some levity on it. We want to put fun back into the lexicon and that involves introducing new comedic talent and big family entertainment shows. We need to be an easy watch that is fun. We have gone from being young and provocative and loud, to actually being old, middle-aged and frankly a bit boring.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show today, Airey also said the broadcaster would be part of consolidation in the industry.

“I think what will happen - and it’s quite apparent - is there is going to be consolidation. And as sure as night follows day, Five will be part of that. Whether that is through merger or whether it is through acquisition, eventually, come hook or crook, we will get bigger.”

In a report published earlier this year, media regulator Ofcom recommended merging Channel 4 with Five to create a “strong public service alternative to the BBC”.

Airey said such a merger would work because both Channel 4 and Five are public service broadcasters that commission their own content and are facing the same “structural challenges”.

Putting the two businesses together would allow for a “huge amount of synergies and savings” she said.

Airey also warned that the broadcaster would be making job cuts in light of falling advertising revenues, which will be announced to staff next week.

“There will be a restructure and we will be losing some of our staff. We will be talking to our staff on March 5 and they will be the first to hear it,” she said.