London: British commercial broadcaster ITV said on Monday it had appointed Carolyn McCall, the boss of airline easyJet, as its next chief executive, replacing Adam Crozier who has already stepped down.
McCall, who was chief executive at newspaper publisher Guardian Media Group before taking the helm at easyJet in 2010, will start at ITV on Jan. 8, 2018, the company said.
She said it was a difficult decision to leave easyJet, but after seven years the opportunity from ITV felt like the right one to take.
"It is a fantastic company in a dynamic and stimulating sector," she said.
She will join ITV, the maker of soap opera Coronation Street, at a time when advertising is coming under pressure from intense competition from internet services and weaker consumer markets.
Under Crozier, the broadcaster has increased its production operations, but it still relies on advertising for nearly half of its revenue.
EasyJet said McCall and her team had transformed the low-cost carrier, improving its operations and growing passenger numbers, resulting in a trebling of the share price and the payment of 1.2 billion pounds ($1.57 billion) in dividends.
It said the search for McCall's successor had started.
McCall will earn 900,000 pounds in annual salary, plus a bonus worth up to 180 per cent of salary and a long-term incentive plan worth up to 265 per cent of salary, ITV said, broadly in line with Crozier's compensation.