Channel 4 CEO Andy Duncan Resigns

September 16, 2009 World Screen
LONDON: Andy Duncan, the chief executive of the U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, will step down before the end of the year.
 
“By any measure, it’s been a great five years, during which time we’ve punched well above our weight, out-performing our immediate rivals both creatively and commercially,” said Duncan, who joined Channel 4 in 2004. “The British public are watching and using more of our TV programs, film and online content and services than ever before. Having coped with dramatic structural change and an unprecedented downturn substantially better than most, I believe Channel 4 is in a great position to face the future with real confidence.
 
“Our future as the main source of public service competition to the BBC has been secured, with the Digital Britain report strongly endorsing our vision for Channel 4 as a digital public-service network and the updated remit we proposed due to be enshrined in legislation in the autumn,” continues Duncan.  
 
“The publication of the Digital Britain report was also a natural moment for me to take stock and since then I have been in discussion with Luke and other board members about the future,” he explains. “Channel 4 is facing a further period of change, with a fresh regulatory cycle looming and with the cancellation of Big Brother signaling the most significant creative renewal in our history. We have mutually agreed that this feels like the appropriate moment for me to hand on the baton to someone else and to move on to a fresh challenge after more than five years at the helm.
 
“My intention in announcing my decision in advance is to ensure a period of stable leadership, which will allow the board to proceed with recruiting my successor in parallel with Ofcom’s appointment of a new chairman,” continues Duncan. “I hope that clarifying my intentions will allow everyone at Channel 4 to get on with the job at hand without the distracting speculation of recent weeks. In my remaining months I intend to see through important further steps towards securing the best possible future for this organization, including the update of our remit and the completion of a number of exciting commercial partnerships currently under discussion.”
 
Channel 4 chairman, Luke Johnson, commented: “The board is grateful for Andy’s effective leadership. Channel 4 has enjoyed record creative and commercial success in the last five years while skillfully navigating the seismic upheavals in digital media. When the time comes, he will depart with our best wishes for his future success.”
 

“In the meantime,” Johnson continues, “we will immediately get on with the process of appointing his successor. We will move swiftly to appoint headhunters with a view to appointing a replacement in due course. I have asked our finance director, Anne Bulford, to lead the Group on an interim basis in the event that Andy leaves before his successor is in place.” 

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