Ashley Highfield

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Ashley Highfield (born on October 3, 1965) joined BBC in October 2000 as the Director of New Media & Technology.

He is responsible for the BBC's internet press - bbc.co.uk, interactive TV - BBCi, and mobile services as well as the whole technology portfolio.

Before joining BBC, Highfield worked at Flextech TV, the pay-TV channel provider that later merged with Telewest, where he founded Flextech Interactive and was the CEO.

Highfield now sits on the BBC's Executive Board, and is the Director of the Future Media and Technology group.

In 2003, Highfield was awarded the Digital Innovator internet award by The Sunday Times, which dubbed his vision of a 100% digital Britain "tour de force". In 2004, he was named the ‘most influential individual in technology’ by online technology news site Silicon.Com [1] for overseeing a number of ‘firsts’ for a major broadcaster, including the use of peer-to-peer, interactive TV, and multi-casting of TV. In May 2006, Broadcast magazine [2] wrote "The Creative Future review will enhance the already high standing of Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology. As the principal architect of the BBC's digital convergence strategy, he is increasingly coming to be recognised as one of the most influential figures in world media". The Guardian in its annual survey (July 2006) of the most powerful people in the UK media industry placed Highfield at #21. The paper noted that Highfield had "unveiled radical plans to rebuild BBC Online around user-generated content, using blogs and home videos on what he dubbed "bbc.co.uk 2.0.", although it mentioned that "exactly how much the impetus for such initiatives stem from Highfield, and how much from the director general, was the source of some debate among the panel"[3].

In July 2006, BBC announced to reform its media structure, turning the New Media department into a larger 'Future Media & Technology' department, including the BBC's Information & Archives business, with Highfield at the helm[4]. In a piece titled "Who's Afraid of Ashley Highfield?"[5], Ex-BBC Radio & Music Interactive employee Tom Coates, who worked in one of the areas now being centralised, criticised the re-organization. Others saw the move in a positive light, see Ian Burrell's article in The Independent [6]