ITV communications chief Evans to leave

ITV's communications director Louise Evans is to leave the broadcaster after nearly three years to join a marketing services company.

Evans, who joined ITV after spending two years at news producer ITN, will quit the broadcaster in January 2011 to take up the role of director of communications and marketing at Aegis Group.

During her tenure at ITV, she handled all corporate communications connected to regulatory and legal affairs, along with commercial and digital strategy.

At Aegis, Evans will be responsible for global marketing for media agencies Carat and Vizeum, as well as research division Synovate, digital unit Glue-Isobar and search engine specialist i-Prospect.

According to Media Week, ITV will not directly replace Evans, but instead reallocate her responsibilities among the corporate affairs team. Acting group director of communications Mike Large is also expected to remain in post at the broadcaster.

Meanwhile, the Adam Smith Institute has claimed that the success of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey has "truly challenged" the BBC's right to be publicly funded.

The economics thinktank believes that the drama demonstrated the "depth and diversity that private broadcasters can achieve", calling into question the BBC's public subsidy.

ITV chief executive Adam Crozier also recently called on the government to remove advertising restrictions on flagship channel ITV1 so that the broadcaster can move away from programming of the "lowest common denominator".