Both BSkyB and Richard Branson have welcomed the appointment of Michael Grade to the top job at ITV. The former have a right to an opinion, of course, because they recently became the commercial network's biggest shareholder. Branson, meanwhile, has been increasingly vocal about ITV of late because he is now a shareholder in cable firm NTL (soon to be Virgin Media), who had expressed an interest in merging with ITV, but whose approach was knocked back shortly after the BSkyB share purchase.
A "senior source" at Sky told reporters: "We are pleased that the board has moved quickly to bring in new leadership and a leader of some stature. We did say when we announced our investment in ITV that we saw scope in long-term value and the appointment of new leadership would be one of the priorities in that. We look forward to hearing more from the board in due course about its future strategy".
Branson, meanwhile, said: "We would like to congratulate Michael Grade on his appointment as executive chairman of ITV. He is a delightful person with a long-standing reputation in the industry. We very much hope that today's news signals a better creative future for commercial terrestrial television in the UK and I look forward to meeting him in the new year."