Milligan has been with the broadcaster since its launch in 1997 and is a former sales chief of Thames Television.
At Five, he worked closely with former chief executive Dawn Airey and took over as acting chief executive when she left until Flextech's Jane Lighting was appointed in February.
The fact that Milligan was passed over for the job of chief executive ignited suspicion that he wants to leave the broadcaster.
The latest round of speculation links him with senior TV executives -- Malcolm Wall, Carlton's Steve Platt and David Elstein -- to take over running an ITV sales house if the merger of Carlton and Granada is given the go-ahead.
There was even the suggestion in this morning's Evening Standard that he is considering following Airey to Sky Networks, where she is managing director.
However, the Sky reports are thought unlikely to be true, according to industry insiders, because Airey would likely have signed a "no poach clause" when she left Five and also because it is believed that Airey has begun to have established relationships at the satellite broadcaster with its own sales team.
Milligan would be a popular choice to lead an ITV sales house, because of his industry experience and knowledge of ITV.
Neither Five nor Milligan were available for comment at the time of writing.
If Milligan was to leave Five, it would leave the channel with a big hole in its senior management line-up. Last week, programming director Kevin Lygo quit to return to Channel 4, leaving Jane Lighting to run the station's programming until a replacement is found.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
.jpg)
.jpg)