Roger Parry Expresses Interest In ITV Top Job

Chairman of local newspaper publisher Johnston Press and former chief executive of Clear Channel, Roger Parry, has expressed his interest in taking over from outgoing ITV chief executive, Charles Allen.

Parry, who considered a private equity bid for the broadcaster this year, told the Financial Times that although he had not been contacted by ITV’s headhunters or its chairman, he would like to be the person to boost the broadcaster’s fortunes once Allen exits.

His original bid plan for ITV was understood to have included splitting the broadcaster into separate broadcasting and production arms and selling off one part, but he told the FT that he no longer thought a split would be necessary.

“There has to be much greater managerial distance [between the two divisions], but you don’t have to have separation of ownership,” he said.

He also said that he would be willing to take on the chief executive’s job under ITV’s existing ownership structure.

Parry added: “If the board of ITV offered me the same sort of remuneration deal and managerial control that a bid would offer, I’d be neutral to those alternatives.”

He told the newspaper that his priority would be to make sure ITV’s commissioning arm relied less on in-house production, which in turn should concentrate of securing more work from other suppliers.

“ITV became completely obsessed with regulation and cost-cutting. What they have got to focus on is programming and selling airtime,” he said.

Parry also said he thought ITV could find alternatives to the CRR, which allows advertisers to take money out of ITV if it fails to hit certain audience targets.

Other rumoured candidates for the post include Channel 4’s Andy Duncan, Michael Jackson at InterActive Corp and Stephen Carter, the former Ofcom chief executive (see Former Channel 4 Boss Could Replace Allen).

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