Events | 2009.09.25
ITV faces another mess of its own making
The controversial deal ITV used to lure Michael Grade has come back to haunt the broadcaster in its search for a chief executive
Some five months after Michael Grade announced he would be stepping back from the executive chairmanship, ITV is now back to square one.
Not only has it terminated negotiations with the favourite to become chief executive, Tony Ball, but Grade has announced he will be leaving at the end of the year.
With former BSkyB boss Ball out of the picture, the broadcaster will have to go back to the shortlist of rejected chief executive candidates or persuade someone who couldn\'t be enticed before that this chalice is safe to drink from.
The hugely protracted and distracting process, which will now require a new chairman to be appointed before a new chief executive can join, bears an uncanny similarity to the drawn-out departure of Charles Allen in 2006.
Then, ITV was allowed to drift without clear leadership for months, allowing NTL to make its failed bid attempt and leading to BSkyB taking a 17.9% stake.
ITV managed to pull off the coup of landing Grade, and given the sense of emergency at the time he was allowed to take the controversial position of executive chairman, combining the roles of chairman and chief executive, which is contrary to City guidelines.
Shareholders turned a blind eye to the irregular practice, even though three years earlier they had objected to Michael Green being given the same title and prevented him from running ITV with Allen as a result.
This time round, it could be argued that the absence of a non-executive chairman has contributed to ITV\'s problems in searching for a chief executive.
Because Grade could not be directly involved, the process was run exclusively by the nominations committee, led by the controversial figure of former HBOS chief Sir James Crosby.
Meanwhile Grade loomed large in the background, raising the question of how the new chief executive would get along with his predecessor hanging around.
It should be remembered that until today, he was supposed to be staying as a non-executive chairman – a job progression that is also against City guidelines and has caused controversy at other companies such as Marks & Spencer.
Moreover, if there had been a non-executive chairman in place, Ball would not have been able to make demands about Grade\'s successor as chairman, one of the apparent bones of contention between him and ITV.
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