Two directors join NTL Home exodus

NTL brand director Bart Michels and his boss, commercial director Richard Harris, are both understood to have left the company’s consumer division, NTL Home, by mutual consent – the latest in a long line of people leaving NTL.

Group marketing director Mike Hounsell left in January, as part of a restructure that resulted in more than 40 job losses in the central marketing team (MW January 20).

NTL Home is now effectively without a central brand marketing team. The division is headed by managing director Aizad Hussain, who reports to NTL managing director Stephen Carter.

Marketers are employed within the company’s product divisions for TV, the Internet and telephony and in the six regional business units.

The new structure suggests that NTL will focus on below-the-line activity, rather than national brand-led above-the-line campaigns.

Harris, who was moved up to commercial director from product marketing director in January, was involved in buying the defunct ITV Digital’s customer database. Michels, who reported to Harris, was responsible for NTL’s sponsorship of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the British Lions rugby team.

NTL chief Barclay Knapp and his senior management team were last week given the all-clear by bondholders to continue to run the cable group, having managed to renegotiate the company’s financing.