U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has named Priya Dogra its recent CEO, succeeding Alex Mahon who stepped down this summer after eight years.
Dogra joined Comcast-owned Sky last summer as its chief promoting, group data, and recent revenue officer. She previously worked at Warner Bros. Discovery and its predecessors for 14 years, ending up as the corporate’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) president and managing director.
Jonathan Allan, Channel 4’s chief operating officer and interim CEO, and Emma Lloyd, Netflix’s vp of partnerships, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), were understood to even have been in the ultimate running for the post.
Dogra will join Channel 4 in March, with Allan continuing within the role of interim CEO until then.
“Priya is an excellent executive, a visionary leader and has a formidable intellect,” said Channel 4 chair Geoff Cooper. “She has impressive experience in driving business growth and digital transformation, in addition to constructing collaborative partnerships, alongside a track record of nurturing creative processes, delivering effective programming strategies and constructing content production capabilities.”
He added: “She also possesses a passion for Channel 4 and a deep understanding of its public service remit. Priya is ideally equipped to steer the business through its next chapter, and we’re thrilled to welcome her aboard.”
Cooper also lauded Allan’s “impressive leadership” as interim CEO, saying: “Jonathan has stepped as much as guide Channel 4 through the second half of the yr with skill, insight and energy. His regular hand on the tiller has helped Channel 4 move forward through the choppy market conditions within the last a part of the yr. The Channel 4 Board is incredibly grateful for his contribution.”
Said Dogra about her appointment: “Joining Channel 4 at this moment is a real privilege. Few organizations sit so firmly at the guts of British culture or have such a transparent purpose and vital mission: to challenge, to reflect and represent voices across the U.K., and to spark change through entertainment. I very much sit up for working with the good team at Channel 4 and with partners across the creative industries to construct on its distinctive and ground-breaking programming and reporting, speed up its digital ambitions, and deepen its reference to audiences across every platform.”
Earlier this yr, Channel 4 said it will be moving into in-house production in a sea change and can even start exploring buying production corporations with “strong business potential” in an evolution of its acquisition strategy. Over the course of its 40-year history, the broadcaster has targeting greenlighting its content from independent production corporations, however the U.K.’s Media Act 2024 removes a restriction that now opens the door for Channel 4 to create its own content in-house.
Channel 4 said on the time that it will follow a brand new “twin-track approach” to investing in mental property (IP) ownership, “incorporating a phased move into in-house production and the launch of a brand new Creative Investment Fund” focused on buying or constructing majority stakes in independent production banners and “content producers with strong business potential.”
In early 2024, Channel 4 unveiled a five-year technique to reshape itself and “speed up its transformation into an agile, genuinely digital-first public service streamer by 2030.” Via a headcount reduction, its goal was to return the broadcaster’s headcount near 2021 levels, “but with the organization in the best shape to deliver further digital growth and lead public service media into the longer term.”
Other plans unveiled baclk then included “moving out of Channel 4’s London base in the following few years, with 600 roles based outside of London by the tip of 2025, lower head count in London overall, and a shift to flexible working, including “a brand new fit-for-purpose office space in central London”; and “closing small linear channels that not deliver revenues or public value at scale, including the Box channels in 2024 and others at the best time.”