I'm an ITV boss... get me out of here

ITV's new ratings hope I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here began this week, stripped across the schedules for two weeks as the commercial channel struggles to keep both viewers and advertisers happy.

Those tuning in have seen Z-list celebs get covered in bugs, be buried alive and argue a lot in the inhospitable Australian rainforest.

This proves that not only will even half-famous people do anything to cling on to a further 15 minutes of fame but also ITV executives will stoop lower than a limbo dancer in a bid to stop viewers deserting the channel.

Off-screen, in the corridors of power at network centre, executives have been playing their own version of the programme entitled I'm An ITV Boss - Get Me Out Of Here.

The man responsible for shaping the schedule, David Liddiment, has quit as network director. This followed the departure of chief executive Stuart Prebble, who handed in his notice after the money-haemorrhaging failure of ITV Digital.

He's been followed through the door marked Exit by Granada chief executive Stuart Morrison, who has worked for the company since 1974, and is the latest departure. It was announced this week that he's taking early retirement, although few doubt his leaving follows the digital debacle, a joint venture between Granada and Carlton, which has proved a major financial embarrassment.

It took the arrival of Roland Rat to rescue ailing breakfast show TV-am. ITV is pinning hopes on something - someone - more attractive than a rodent puppet, C5's boss Dawn Airey. They hope Airey, like some good fairy, will wave her magic wand and make things all right at the commercial station.

The question on everyone's lips at the Edinburgh International Television Festival last weekend was not so much "Will she join ITV?" as "When will she join ITV?". As yet, there's no answer.

Few could have predicted when C5 began broadcasting a little over five years ago that they'd be looking to Airey to restore confidence in ITV.

The broadcaster has been hit by falling advertising revenue coupled with a disastrous slump in the ratings. Even Coronation Street, which could always be relied on in the past to deliver good audiences, has been going through a bad patch and soap doctors have been called to restore it to its previous robust good health.

With the commercial station's audience share falling below BBC1's for the first time last year, ITV needs to find a saviour. Airey is perceived as the golden girl who can transform their fortunes.

She spent nearly a decade at Central TV, eventually becoming head of planning, before joining the first ITV Network Centre team in 1993 as controller of daytime and children's programmes. A year later she moved to C4 as controller of arts and entertainment.

Airey became C5's first director of programmes in 1997. She defined the fledgling channel's appeal as films, football and sex (although she used a seven-letter version of a four-letter word beginning with f).

This is also the woman who, when she was on BBC1's Question Time, mentioned that Sex And Shopping was being shown on C5 at the same time and caused its ratings to soar as thousands changed channels, encouraged by her spot of impromptu advertising.

Her scheduling adopted the US method of stripping programmes, showing the same type of show at the same time every night so viewers always knew what was on.

Two years ago she replaced David Elstein as chief executive and poached former colleague Kevin Lygo from C4 to be C5's director of programmes. They've steered C5 away from its trademark smutty late night documentaries and films, and towards more factual and arts programmes. Not particularly expensive shows as the channel has only a modest £150 programme budget, but cheap and cheerful ones that deliver viewers nonetheless.

The result has been an increase in viewing share, from 5.8 to 6.4 per cent in a year, for C5. The improvement was enough for C5, which is being rebranded as Five, to be named terrestrial channel of the year at the Edinburgh festival.

Airey, it was reported, jokingly referred to the award as "a fantastic leaving present" in her acceptance speech.

Then again, she may not have been joking. The speculation that she will move to ITV has continued, despite her telling Broadcast magazine that she didn't think the job was right for her.

One story claims she's been offered £3m over three years to run ITV. Another says she's demanding that C5's backers will have to increase the programme budget substantially if they want her to stay. Yet another rumour claims her reluctance to change channels stems from the fact that her C5 share option could see her net millions of pounds if the channel was sold or floated.

The one certain thing seems to be that there's no end in sight to the story as Airey has gone off on three weeks holiday abroad. And, unlike ITV's celebrity survivors, she doesn't have cameras following her every move.

Published: 31/08/2002