ITV’s Director of Programme Strategy David Bergg is to step down.
He will be replaced by Rosemary Newell, ITV’s Head of Digital Channels and Acquisitions.
Paul Mortimer, Controller of Digital Channels, will move up to take over from Newell, and will report into her. Bergg will leave in the early part of next year, following a handover.
Bergg worked in sales research roles for a number of regional ITV companies from 1985. He then went on to join TV-am and GMTV, before moving to the BBC in 1994 where he worked for Alan Yentob.
He joined the Channel 5 launch team in the mid-90’s and moved back to ITV in 1997 as Director of Programme Strategy, working for Director of Programmes David Liddiment and Chief Executive Richard Eyre.
A year later he played a key role in the launch of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. It was the first entertainment show in British television to be stripped across two weeks and picked up ratings of 12.5million.
Bergg then went on to run Sky One in 2000, before returning to the top scheduling role at ITV in 2001. In 2002, he was instrumental in the decision to strip I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! across a fortnight which became a huge hit.
During his time at ITV he has also worked for four other Directors of Programmes – Nigel Pickard, Simon Shaps, Peter Fincham and most recently Kevin Lygo, who said:
“The spotlight invariably falls on the commissioning team when a show is a success, but scheduling is often the unsung hero when it comes to helping to create those hits. David has been building brilliant schedules at ITV since 1997 and is not only a genius at finding the right spot for new programmes, but his experience and expertise has also helped shaped the shows which have gone on to become ratings winners.
“I will personally miss David very much; his wise counsel when I arrived as Director of Television earlier this year helped me greatly and I wish him every success in whatever he chooses to do next.
“He will be a tough act to follow, but there’s no doubt that Rosemary, who was responsible for programme strategy and scheduling at both the BBC and Channel 4, is absolutely the right person to take on the tall order of keeping our schedules in rude health. And I’m very pleased that Paul is stepping up to run our digital channels. He has demonstrated that he knows what makes our audiences tick, ranging from the 16-34’s watching ITV2, through to the sports fans tuning into ITV4 or the young mums who turn on ITVBe.”
Bergg said: “The time has come for me to move on and do something different and I’m delighted to be passing on the baton to Rosemary. Readers of a certain age may remember that Ro and I jointly ran the BBC scheduling team from an office on the sixth floor of TV Centre in 1996. There’s no-one in the industry as experienced and capable as Ro is at delivering success for ITV in the coming years. I wish her, Kevin, Paul and all of my colleagues at ITV the very best for the future.”
Staff Reporter
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