BBC Chairman Jumps Ship To ITV Top Job
The BBC has been shaken up by the shock announcement that the Corporation’s chairman, Michael Grade, has jumped ship to become executive chairman of ITV with immediate effect.
The race to find Charles Allen’s replacement is finally over, after the appointment of Grade – a decision that no one in the industry was expecting.
Various names have been in the frame for the top job at Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster since Allen’s departure (see Charles Allen Leaves ITV), such as Stephen Carter, former head of media regulator Ofcom; Dawn Airey, a senior executive at Sky; Michael Jackson, a one-time chief executive of Channel 4; and Malcolm Wall, formerly with United Business Media (see ITV Board To Review Chief Exec Shortlist This Week). However, Grade had not been mentioned.
This latest development comes at a tumultuous time for both ITV and the BBC, with the Corporation just days away from its licence fee announcement and ITV barely out of the headlines after BSkyB’s almost 20% acquisition of the broadcaster (see Branson Bites Back At Sky’s Swoop On ITV).
Grade, who will be replaced by current BBC vice chairman Anthony Salz as acting chairman, has told BBC employees in an email that his decision to join ITV as executive chairman was a “career move” and not a reaction to anything internal or external.
Grade, who will stay at ITV for at least three years, was to have his salary increased to £140,000 next year as chair of the BBC Trust. But he is set for a massive pay rise at ITV, where former chief executive Charles Allen was paid £1.8 million in 2005.
Within the three-year period, Grade will appoint a chief executive and step back from day-to-day running of the company to become non-executive chairman.
“So much has been accomplished in the last two and a half years that I feel comfortable that I have achieved what I set out to achieve – namely restore the equilibrium of this great institution, to lead the process to appoint a new director general, to secure a new 10-year charter and to reform the governance of the corporation,” he said.
He stressed that while ITV is a competitor to the BBC, the Corporation needed Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster to be strong.
“It’s the centenary of my uncle Louis’ birth and he was one of the founders of ITV, so it’s like going home,” Grade told Sky News. “I started there in 1973 and they gave me my first chance in television.
“It’s not the happiest moment watching ITV struggle. I will do my best to deliver great programmes to viewers and restore advertising revenues and create value for shareholders.”
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