EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4’s content chief Ian Katz has admitted to his team that his future is uncertain, meaning there could be a dramatic changing of the guard at the UK broadcaster following the dual exit of its CEO and chair.
Deadline is told that Katz gathered staff on Tuesday morning, the day after Alex Mahon announced her departure, and posited that he may not be part of the new CEO’s plans. Katz is one of Mahon’s closest allies and was her first major hire in 2017. His remarks are unsurprising given that Channel 4 CEOs tend to pick their own content chiefs, but colleagues said it was notable that Katz – a well-liked exec whose tenure has been a mixed one marked by a lack of breakout hits – said the quiet bit out loud. Channel 4 declined comment on the Katz meeting.
“His message was: once a new CEO comes in there will be a renewal of creative leadership, most likely. Until then, I’m still here and I’m putting my foot on the gas,” said one person in the room. Another insider said Katz was keen to emphasize that Channel 4 is not about to pull its “horns in” and will continue to commission content as usual.
One source said that staff are bracing for another period of instability following the battle over Channel 4’s ownership and the recent ad market shock. As well as executive change, Channel 4 is also without a chair after Ian Cheshire quit having served just one term. Former Channel 4 boss Michael Grade, who is now the chair of media regulator Ofcom, is leading the search for Cheshire’s successor, a five-day-a-month gig with a £95,000 ($127,000) salary.
The received wisdom is that a CEO will be appointed only once a chair is in place. Given the difficulty of finding credible CEO candidates and the fact that some may have lengthy notice periods, it’s possible that Mahon’s successor may not be in post until well into next year.
In the meantime and as a recruitment process is carried out, ex-Channel 5 boss Dawn Airey is interim chair and Jonathan Allan, Channel 4’s Chief Operating Officer, has taken on the CEO post temporarily. Katz is thought to have told staff this situation is “unusual,” although there is precedent. Chair Luke Johnson and CEO Andy Duncan both exited in the late noughties and were replaced swiftly by Terry Burns and David Abraham respectively. Abraham then chose now-Apple TV+ Europe boss Jay Hunt as his content chief.
Speculation about Mahon’s future reached fever pitch a couple of years back, with rumors connecting her with a job at French fashion house Chloé. That speculation died down somewhat in recent months as Channel 4 was hit by the global economic crisis, experienced soured relations with indies, and enacted a 200-staff layoff plan badged under a ‘Fast Forward’ digital-first strategy. Revealed in the past hour, she is moving to run live entertainment firm Superstruct, which is owned by Mediawan backer KKR and CVC Capital Partners.
“I think there was collective shock at the announcement. We all knew she was going to leave, but we didn’t expect it so swiftly,” said an insider.
Mahon’s Channel 4 stint has been full of peaks and troughs. She has won praise for navigating Channel 4 through a part-relocation out of London, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Conservative government’s failed attempt to privatize the broadcaster — a deeply unpopular proposal in the industry.
Who Will Be C4’s New CEO?
Industry thoughts have immediately turned to who could replace Mahon. Interim CEO Allan is seen as a credible candidate. He has been with the Married at First Sight network for well over a decade, working his way up from Sales Director to his current position as one of the most powerful figures in Horseferry Road. Sources questioned, however, whether Allan has the “creative conviction” for what one ex-staffer termed the “necessary creative renewal” required to secure Channel 4’s future.
Hunt, the former Channel 4 content chief, has also been linked with the job. There is a feeling that she could have unfinished business at Channel 4 — Hunt was the frontrunner to become CEO in 2017, but quit the broadcaster before the recruitment process concluded and the job was awarded to Mahon. Hunt, who has impressed at Apple with hits like Slow Horses and Bad Sisters, has also been connected with the vacant BBC content job in recent weeks. She is also chair of the British Film Institute.
Sources also pointed to Jane Turton, the CEO of All3Media, whose production giant makes the likes of Gogglebox and The Circle for Channel 4. Turton, a highly-regarded operator and staunch proponent of public service broadcasting, is consistently linked with major industry roles. She helped oversee All3Media’s transition to new ownership, following its $1.45B takeover by RedBird IMI. The deal was supposed to unleash All3Media in the M&A space, but nearly a year on, the producer is yet to make a major acquisition, which some have suggested could be a source of frustration for Turton. Rumors persist that All3Media is in the market for ITV Studios. Were that deal to go through, there is a big chance she could land the top job at the combined entity.
Whoever takes the role, the UK TV industry is on the verge of another round of sweeping change as BBC content boss Charlotte Moore also prepares to exit. One person who will not be applying for Moore’s role is Katz, who is said to be uninterested in the BBC job. At the start of the year, we wrote about how British TV’s boss class was setting new precedents with the length of its collective tenure. Fast-forward three months and the dominoes are beginning to fall.
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