Channel 4 Boss Says Network Still Hasn’t Found a New Chief Content Officer: ‘I’m Looking for the Next Messiah’

Channel 4 boss Priya Dogra says she’s “looking for the next Messiah” to replace outgoing chief content officer Ian Katz.

“You will hear hopefully in the coming weeks,” Dogra said, speaking at the Royal Television Society conference in London. “I can’t pin down the time because it’s an incredibly important decision for me. It’s an incredibly important decision for the channel and for the industry. I don’t take it lightly.”

Although declining to name any contenders for the role, she said “there are incredibly talented people in the frame.”

In terms of criteria, Dogra said she was looking for someone who could “push the boundaries of Channel Four,” who can attract the “best commissions” from independent producers and who can “rally” a team that has been “somewhat disrupted and somewhat bruised after restructuring.”

Last month Channel 4 announced it would be cutting its workforce by 28%. Katz, who joined the network in 2018, announced earlier this year he planned to step down in the fall.

He leaves at a critical time for Channel 4, which has seen one of its most popular and profitable shows, “Married at First Sight U.K.” rocked by an abuse scandal while recently-appointed Dogra last month announced a sweeping round of cost-cutting.

Channel 4 is widely believed to be at risk – or possibly in need – of acquisition or at least 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 international boss Wayne Garvie said he thought Channel 4 should merge with the BBC.

However Dogra was adamant that she is prepared to go it alone, saying: “I’m not positioning it for a takeover.”

“I’m trying to create a leaner, more agile Channel Four, but that’s because I believe in public sector broadcasting,” she said. “I believe that we’re going to have to come up with solutions ourselves.”