TV broadcaster Five has promoted chief legal officer Paul Chinnery to the position of director of legal affairs and awarded the lawyer a place on the executive board.

Chinnery, who has been unofficially managing the legal department for the last year, formally replaces previous director of legal affairs Colin Campbell, who retired from the role at the end of 2007.

Commenting on the move, Dawn Airey, the chairman and chief executive of Five, said: "I am very pleased that Five has developed outstanding people in our business to take up such senior positions.

She added: "The commercial, regulatory and legislative environment in which media companies operate is ever-changing and it is important that we are able to retain the services of executives of the calibre of Paul Chinnery to deal with these challenges."

Chinnery, who also retains the role of company secretary, said: "I am very proud to continue to be playing a role at Five as it moves to the next phase of its development in a rapidly changing media industry. I am also looking forward to the significant new challenges of being an executive director."

Chinnery joined Five in 1997 after working as a solicitor at Finers Innocent (now Finers Stephens Innocent) and has also held the role of head of legal and compliance at the broadcaster.