Opie to start at Five next week

Chris Shaw, senior programming controller, announced this week that Lisa Opie will take up her new role as managing director of content at Five next Friday.

Opie was not expected to join the terrestrial channel until early next year.

Speaking at the Broadcast Commissioning Conference in Manchester, Shaw admitted there had been somewhat of a "hiatus" around Five's commissioning process and the channel had not been as open or moved that quickly in recent times.

He said that Opie would bring a "new creative vision" to the channel and things would move "very, very quickly", adding that the new managing director would be addressing suppliers in the new year.

He said the channel was working hard to build on its successes, but added that the content it had now was, "not enough to compete."

When asked in what genre Five was looking for a "break-through" show, Shaw indicated that factual programming could be the place to look for Five's "big hit".

"We need some big commissioned hits, it's not enough to have what we have now," he added.