Channel 4 boss Priya Dogra has said she is “looking for the next Messiah” to replace outgoing chief content officer Ian Katz.
“You will hear it hopefully in the coming weeks,” Dogra said at the Royal Television Society conference in London. “I can’t pinpoint the timing because this is an incredibly important decision for me. This is an incredibly important decision for the channel and the industry. I don’t take it lightly.”
“There are incredibly talented people in the frame,” he said, although he declined to name any candidates for the role.
In terms of criteria, Dogra said he was looking for someone who could “push Channel Four to its limits”, attract “the best commissions” from independent producers and “bring together” a team that was “somewhat broken and a bit bruised after restructuring”.
Last month Channel 4 announced it would cut its workforce by 28%. Katz, who joined the network in 2018, announced at the beginning of this year that he planned to step down in the fall.
The recently appointed Dogra is leaving Channel 4, which announced sweeping cost cuts last month, at a critical time as “Married at First Sight UK”, one of its most popular and profitable programmes, is rocked by the harassment scandal.
Channel 4 is believed to be at risk of, or possibly in need of, an acquisition or at least a partnership. Fellow commercial public service broadcaster ITV is in the process of being acquired by Comcast-owned Sky. Earlier at the conference, Sony Pictures TV’s international boss Wayne Garvie said he thought Channel 4 should merge with the BBC.
But Dogra was adamant he was ready to go it alone, saying: “I’m not positioning this for a takeover.”
“I’m trying to create a leaner, more agile Channel Four, but that’s because I believe in public sector broadcasting,” he said. “I believe we have to find the solutions on our own.”