James Crosby, who heads the merged Halifax and Bank of Scotland financial services group, is the first appointment to the Granada board since the broadcaster announced its £2.6bn merger with ITV partner Carlton Communications last month.
The appointment follows Granada's full-year results, which were released this morning. Granada beat analyst forecasts as profits before tax, goodwill and exceptional items fell to £176m and advertising revenue for the second half of the year rose 5%, although Granada would not commit itself to predicting market conditions in 2003.
Major shareholders in ITV hit out after the merger was announced. They called for one of the two top jobs, which have already been earmarked for Michael Green at Carlton and Allen at Granada, to go to an outside executive or for a heavyweight outside director to be appointed to the board.
Charles Allen, executive chairman of Granada, said: "James is a very well-respected and experienced executive and the board will benefit from his knowledge, skill and experience. We are looking forward to working with him."
Shareholders were angered that despite the Allen and Green overseeing the collapse of ITV Digital, they still got the top jobs.
The appointment of Crosby, a favourite in the City, should go some way to addressing shareholder concerns. Crosby has had a long career in the financial services sector and should bring a breadth of experience to the Granada board.
"I look forward to joining the board of Granada and helping them advance their commercial objectives, including the merger with Carlton," Cosby said.
Carlton and Granada announced the top management line-up at the same time as revealing they were in advanced talks, which have since led to an agreement to move ahead with a £2.6bn merger to create a single ITV company.
The decline in ITV's fortunes has won the two chiefs few fans in the City, who want to see changes in the way ITV is run.
However, it was always unlikely that either Green or Allen would step down and so the appointment of a high-profile outside director was seen as the best way of mollifying City unease.
Prior to the management line-up of a merged ITV being announced, the speculation was that Green would retire. The City is still waiting to find out if his job as chairman is to be an executive or non-executive appointment.
Carlton and Granada are set to nominate three non-executive directors to the new board, but these names have not yet been announced.
In August, Granada's chief executive Steve Morrison stepped down and Granada appointed the former 3i chairman, Sir George Russell, to its board as non-executive deputy chairman.
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