Stuart Murphy has been promoted to Director, Sky Entertainment Channels. He had been Director of Sky 1 HD and Director of Commmissioning.

Alongside his existing role, Murphy will assume responsibility for shaping the future strategy of the Entertainment portfolio channels: Sky Atlantic HD, Sky Arts HD and Sky Living HD as well as Sky 1 HD.  Channel directors Jane Johnson (Sky Living), Naomi Gibney (Sky Atlantic) and James Hunt (Sky Arts) will now report to Murphy.

Murphy will continue to report to Sophie Turner Laing.

“Over the past three years, under Stuart’s leadership, we have seen Sky 1 become a true destination channel, offering our customers some of the finest drama, comedy and entertainment programmes on television at the moment,” said Sophie Turner Laing. “I have no doubt that in his new role, he’ll bring the same vision and drive to the rest of the portfolio, working with the team to look at the next steps for the rest of our - first class - entertainment channels.”

“I’m properly excited about this opportunity and want to thank Sophie for her continued support,” added Stuart Murphy. “Getting Sky 1 HD to where we are today was a real team effort and I can’t wait to work with Sophie, the channel heads, the commissioning heads and the indie community to look at how we take the entertainment channels to the next phase.”

Also, James Hunt has become Director, Entertainment Production, as Barbara Gibbon moved to sky Creative.