Ford leaves TV3 for FIC

Jeff Ford is leaving his position as director of content at Irish commercial broadcaster TV3 for a role at Fox International Channels (FIC) UK.

Jeff Ford

He is returning to the UK for family reasons following the birth of his grandchild, and is taking up the general manager position at FIC UK.

There he will be responsible for the growth and development of the UK channel business which encompasses pay TV brands Fox, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild and Baby TV.

Ford will be based in FIC’s London office and will report to Diego Londono, executive VP of Western and Northern Europe and COO for Europe and Africa,

Ford, who will step down from TV3 in April, said his decision was made “with great sadness” but described TV3’s future as an “exciting time.”

“I always intended to leave by the end of 2015, but the arrival of my first grandchild in January brought forward these plans to return to the UK.”

He joined TV3 at the beginning of 2013, effectively swapping jobs with previous incumbent Ben Frow who took the director of programmes role at the UK’s Channel 5, a role Ford had stepped down from in October 2012.

Ford had been with C5 since its launch in 1997 and was given the task of increasing and improving TV3’s original content offering. Earlier this year he revealed ambitious plans to populate half the channel’s schedule with originals following the loss of UK soaps including Coronation Street and Emmerdale to newly launched rival UTV Ireland.

David McRedmond, TV3 Group CEO, said: “We are thankful to Jeff for the excellent job he did to accelerate the transformation of TV3 Group into an indigenous producer of content.

“The programming team is stronger now than at any time in TV3’s history with a whole new generation of managers and programme-makers coming through the ranks.

“We are advanced in finding Jeff’s replacement and hope to confirm an appointment by March.”