E4 budget boosted by £20 million

E4's annual budget is being boosted by 50% to £60 million, Channel 4 announced today.

The news coincides with the appointment of Julian Bellamy, C4's head of factual, as the new controller for the channel. He replaces Murray Boland in the role, who is quitting to join Celador.

"E4 has enjoyed fantastic creative and commercial success in its first four years on air and has reached operating profit a year ahead of forecast thanks to its must-have status amongst young and upmarket multi-channel viewers," said C4 CEO Andy Duncan.

"Now is the right time to be boosting our investment in the channel in line with our strategic objective of strengthening our channels’ impact in multi-channel homes."

The extra £20 million will be spent on a combination of original commissions, US acquisitions, spin-offs of Channel 4 programmes and "young, feel-good and comedy" films.

The investment comes ahead of E4's widely anticipated switch from a pay TV to a free-to-air channel later this year.