ITV shuffles commercial management team

Fru Hazlitt, ITV's new managing director of commercial and online, has restructured the broadcaster's commercial team, bringing on Channel 5 executive Kelly Williams.

Hazlitt, the former chief executive of radio group GCap, has been reviewing ITV's commercial division since joining the broadcaster last August.

She has now appointed Williams, who left Channel 5 in November after 14 years, as director of sales, replacing the long-serving Gary Digby.

Williams will work alongside Simon Daglish, ITV's new director of multiplatform and partnerships. Daglish joins ITV from Fox Interactive Media, where he was UK commercial vice president with responsibility for MySpace UK.

"Kelly has very successfully managed the selling process within a national broadcaster, and across multiple revenue streams. He also has a refreshing ambition for the possibilities of a multimedia, fully integrated media business which is exactly what we need to become," Hazlitt said.

"Simon has led multiplatform and non-TV media businesses, and is delighted to have the opportunity to grow such a business under the wing of the nation's greatest commercial broadcasting brand."

Under ITV chief executive Adam Crozier's transformation plan, ITV wants to reduce its dependency on the often turbulent cyclical advertising market, and Hazlitt is working to create a more seamless blend between the TV sales and multiplatform teams.

Robin Pembrooke, ITV's newly-appointed managing director of online and on-demand, is working to redefine ITV.com, including an expansion of the ITV Player catch-up service.

"We must make sure that these two critical business areas overlap, this will help us to achieve a renewed focus on our customers and our clients, establishing ITV as a media company that they rely on to help them stand out in an increasingly competitive market as well as to deliver a better return on investment," Hazlitt explained.

"The team will not only help to deliver the creative and commercial convergence that ITV is striving to achieve overall but also the broadband and broadcast convergence that is inevitable in the market as well as the division's own convergence between TV sales and multiplatform and partnerships. The ultimate aim is to deliver as well in broadband as we currently do in broadcast."

Last week, Martin Goswami joined ITV as a consultant with specific responsibility to work with the commercial team to help drive the broadcaster's emerging pay-TV strategy within the wholesale space.

Crozier wants to turn ITV's viewers into "valued customers" by using paid content channels, products and services. Goswami spent four years at Sky as a commercial director, along with two years in a senior role at Top Up TV.

The restructure will mean that Digby will leave ITV, along with trading director Simon Lent, commercial director Jeremy Lawrence, creative solutions director Simon Orpin, director of regional sales David Croft and Simon Poole, the commercial director for ITV Breakfast.

Hazlitt said: "I would like to thank Gary, and those members of the senior team who are departing, for their professionalism and dedication to ITV's commercial operation over many years. It has given us a solid platform on which to build for the future and I wish them every success."