However, there is widespread alarm at the brevity of his notice period, which could see him return to a media agency armed with a wealth of sensitive competitive information within six months.
Connolly takes up a two-year contract on a salary of £100,000 from December 1, but his notice period is only six months or one TV trading season, whichever is longer.
The role of adjudicator, key to the success of the controversial Contract Rights Renewal remedy, will provide Connolly with the widest knowledge of agencies' and individual advertisers' TV trading secrets and contracts. He is therefore likely to become a poaching target in the future for agencies seeking a competitive advantage.
GlaxoSmithKline advertising director Andy Bolden said six months was far too short a time to allow Connolly back into the trading arena, add-
ing: "His knowledge will be greater than all the media auditors combined".
OMD UK managing partner Mark Palmer said: "The notice period should be at least a year."
Meanwhile, Carat head of media Mark Jarvis said six months sounded like a compromise that wouldn't restrict Connolly too severely from taking up other job offers.
He added: "ITV is funding this. Does it want to pay a guy to go on gardening leave for a year?"
Ofcom declined to reveal the size of Connolly's budget, but said it would fund a support staff of one or two people.
Connolly, 44, left Starcom Motive in October and has a background in TV trading with media agencies and Scottish TV. Procter & Gamble associate director media Bernard Balderston said: "I have worked with David for many years and he has the right background for the job."
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