Burns to be Channel 4 chairman
Economist led review of BBC license fee
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Terry Burns, known in Blighty as “Mr. Fixit,” joins the board of Channel 4 immediately as chairman-designate before succeeding present chairman Luke Johnson in January.
Burns is regarded as a safe choice, especially compared with Johnson, who has maverick tendencies, and is well connected in the corridors of power.
His first task will be to hire a CEO to replace Andy Duncan, who is expected to depart by the end of the month.
Burns said: “This is a time of great change as we experience the impact of the rapid development of digital technology in the communications sector, and Channel 4 has a very special and continuing role to play.”
The fact that Burns led a U.K. government review of the BBC four years ago and is something of a veteran is encouraging speculation in British media circles that he may appoint a much younger executive to run Channel 4.
Burns’ appointment was made by local regulator Ofcom, whose chair Collette Bowe said: “Terry Burns has an outstanding record of public service and a real depth of commercial expertise. He will provide strong leadership at a time of considerable change in the broadcasting world.”Burns is chairman of U.K. bank Abbey National and the Royal Academy of Music and a nonexecutive director of the Pearson Group, owner of the Financial Times.
In his 2005 report on the BBC, he floated the idea of “top slicing” the license fee to help rivals finance public service content, an idea subsequently supported by the U.K. government.
