'Canny and caring' new chief executive given ambitious targets for Channel 5

Channel 5's hunt for a chief executive to succeed Dawn Airey ended after five months yesterday with the appointment of a senior manager from the pay TV industry.

Jane Lighting, the chief executive of Flextech, will join the channel, recently rebranded as Five, in early April when she will face the challenge of maintaining momentum after its most successful year to date.

Ms Lighting, 46, is regarded as charming but tough and has the endorsement of Ms Airey, who surprised everyone in the television business by rejecting overtures from ITV and joining Sky last September.

"She is commercial, canny and caring," Ms Airey told Broadcast magazine yesterday, in an echo of her own notorious mantra of Five as being about the three Fs of "films, football and fucking".

Canniness is what Ms Lighting will need. RTL, Five's largest shareholder, is keen for the channel to increase its audience share from 6.5 per cent to 10 per cent and overtake Channel 4, an ambitious target in a multichannel television market. The five-year-old channel changed direction last year under Kevin Lygo, the director of programming it poached from Channel 4. He moved upmarket and away from soft porn which, although always only a small part of the mix, garnered welcome headlines in the early years. The result was success in reaching new audiences and attracting 7.5 per cent of the advertising revenue, a figure that meant it was punching above its weight. Analysts expect that performance to level off during 2003.

Five will also face renewed competition from Channel 4, which is turning the corner after a harsh programme of redundancies, and looking more innovative, and from ITV, which is beginning to fight back after last year's advertising slump.

At Flextech, Ms Lighting is in charge of five channels including LivingTV and Bravo, as well as UKTV, which is Flextech's joint venture with the BBC. She had previously worked in distribution and initiatives such as the founding of the British Television Distributors Association in 1997. She was named businesswoman of the year at the 2000 Women in Film and Television Awards.

She is thought unlikely to grab the headlines in the way the forthright Ms Airey had a habit of doing, but that will probably suit a business facing a challenging year.

Small screen queens

JANA BENNETT

BBC director of television, 46. Born in America, she ran part of the Discovery Channel before replacing Mark Thompson last year.

LORRAINE HEGGESSEY

Controller of BBC1, 46. A long-term staffer and close ally of Greg Dyke. Formerly head of children's TV before landing job in 2000.

JANE ROOT

Controller of BBC2, 45. Once taught media at University of East Anglia. Decamped to BBC2 in 1999 after a career at Wall to Wall Television.

DAWN AIREY

Managing director, Sky Networks, 42. Replaced David Elstein as chief executive of Channel 5 in 2000. Moved to Sky in September.

DENISE O'DONOGHUE

Joint managing director of Hat Trick Productions, 47. Hat Trick has been responsible for hits such as Have I Got News for You.

EILEEN GALLAGHER

Managing director, Shed Productions, 43. Purveyor of Footballers' Wives and Bad Girls. Chairs Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television.