New candidate for ITV chairman job

ITV continue search for chairman

A new candidate last night emerged for the job of ITV chairman.

Bob Wigley, the prominent City financier has emerged as a leading successor in what has become a debacle to find a replacement for Michael Grade.

If Wigley, who is the former head of Merrill Lynch in Europe, becomes ITV's chairman, he would become the second banker to be snapped up for a top broadcasting job in a fortnight, the British paper, The Times reports.

When Wigley was the head of Merrill Lynch, he advised on countless bids and takeovers.

Channel 4

The first banker expected to land a broadcasting job, is Lord Burns. Lord Burns, the chairman of Abbey and a former Treasury mandarin, is expected to be named as the chairman as Channel 4 this week. His new role will see him taking over from Luke Johnson.

Channel 4's search has been a lot shorter than that of ITV. It's taken just over two months, but in that time has suffered barely any leaks along the way. In comparison, ITV's search has taken more than six months, and has rather embarrassingly for the broadcaster, been played out in the public eye.

Leadership roles

Previously, ITV were trying to recruit a new chief executive, but found themselves hitting a brick wall when talks fell through with Tony Ball, which was believed to be linked with money.

When it comes to the chairman role, ITV have found themselves rebuked by leading candidates, Sir Crispin Davis, and Sir Michael Bishop - both of whom believed the job of changing ITV's misfortunes was too difficult.

The broadcaster is understood to be talking to a small group of candidates for the GBP£250,000- a-year job, with no clear front-runner. No decision is expected for at least a fortnight in a process that is being handled for ITV by Sir James Crosby, its senior independent director, who is a former banker and ex-chief executive of HBOS.

Neither Mr Wigley nor Lord Burns has run or worked for a broadcaster, but each would have the task of finding a new chief executive for his respective organisation while commercial broadcasting is grappling with the most severe downturn in the history of commercial television.

Related News:

ITV Chief Executive |ITV search hits another wall |ITV boss

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