ITV has appointed the former managing director of Central Broadcasting, Ian Squires, to the new role of controller of regions and current affairs.
His appointment comes as part of a reshuffle at the beleaguered broadcaster, which recently announced 600 job cuts, and follows the departure of former controller of current affairs and documentaries Jeff Anderson.
In the new role, reporting to Michael Jermey, ITV director of news, current affairs and sport, Mr Squires will run the company’s regional operation, including regional news, as well as taking on responsibility for commissioning network current affairs output for ITV’s channels.
Mr Squires has been director of regional production for ITV since 2004 and was formerly managing director of Central Broadcasting based in Birmingham.
Mr Squires said: “Some of ITV’s most talented people are working on our current affairs programmes and regional news output, both of which are at the heart of the debate about the future of public service broadcasting.
“There are some very big challenges ahead but if we continue to strive for real quality in our programming I’m confident that we’ll find a way through.”
The broadcaster is looking for a new top boss after announcing that Michael Grade will step down to become non-executive chairman before the end of the year.
Mr Grade is set to relinquish his role as executive chairman after the end of a series of regulatory reviews in the broadcasting sector.
ITV, which has been battered by an advertising slump, also confirmed it was not planning to make a cash call to shareholders after reviewing options to boost its balance sheet.
The broadcaster said it hopes to appoint a new chief executive “as soon as practicable” following the outcome of a major review into ITV’s contract rights renewal (CRR), which protects advertisers from ITV abusing its dominant position when it sells airtime.
But an appointment will be made no later than the end of this year, according to ITV.
