UPDATE 08.23 a.m. GMT: Channel 4 has confirmed that Priya Dogra, a former Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) chief in Europe, has been made its eighth CEO. She will replace Alex Mahon and join in March.
Dogra is a former EMEA chief for WBD who rose up the ranks at that business before joining Sky. She will bring heavyweight experience to Channel 4 from an American media giant, having spent 14 years at what was first Time Warner, then Warner Media, then WBD. After the high-profile WBD merger she took the coveted President & Managing Director EMEA role but departed relatively soon after, landing at Sky, where she was overseeing the pay-TV giant’s advertising sales house.
Dogra is the first person of color to be appointed CEO of a British broadcaster.
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Channel 4 chair Geoff Cooper described Dogra as an “outstanding executive” and “visionary leader” with a “formidable intellect.” “She has impressive experience in driving commercial growth and digital transformation, as well as building collaborative partnerships, alongside a track record of nurturing creative processes, delivering effective programming strategies and building 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 lead the business through its next chapter, and we are thrilled to welcome her aboard.”
Dogra added: “Joining Channel 4 at this moment is a genuine privilege. Few organisations sit so firmly at the heart of British culture or have such a clear purpose and vital mission: to challenge, to reflect and represent voices across the UK, and to spark change through entertainment. I very much look forward to working with the brilliant team at Channel 4 and with partners across the creative industries to build on its distinctive and ground-breaking programming and reporting, accelerate its digital ambitions, and deepen its connection with audiences across every platform.”
Dogra will join in March and Jonathan Allan will continue as interim CEO until then. He had been one of the leading candidates to replace Mahon, alongside Netflix VP Emma Lloyd and former BritBox boss Reeemah Sakaan. Dogra’s identity in the process had been unknown until the Financial Times broke the news earlier this morning.
PREVIOUS: Channel 4 is expected to name Priya Dogra, Sky’s ad chief and a former Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) executive, as its next CEO.
The UK commercial network could announce Dogra’s appointment as early as this week, nearly eight months after Alex Mahon resigned.
Dogra’s anticipated hire was first reported by The Financial Times, with Deadline sources confirming the story. We reported on Tuesday that a decision was imminent.
Dogra only joined Sky in June last year and has served as the Comcast-owned broadcaster’s chief advertising, group data, and new revenue officer. Before her time at Sky, she worked at WBD for 15 years, rising to become the company’s EMEA president and managing director.
Deadline revealed on Tuesday that Emma Lloyd, Netflix’s vice president of partnerships EMEA, removed herself from the Channel 4 CEO recruitment process. Sources widely considered her a frontrunner for the position, a plum job in British TV, but she opted to stick with the streaming giant.
Other finalists included Jonathan Allan, Channel 4’s chief operating officer and interim CEO, and former BritBox CEO Reemah Sakaan.
The tightly run recruitment process that has largely kept people guessing in recent weeks — even senior figures at Channel 4. “It’s been such a closely-guarded secret,” said one insider.
Geoff Cooper, who was appointed as Channel 4’s chair in September, has led the recruitment with support from executive search firm Spencer Stuart. Deadline previously obtained a job spec, which said Channel 4‘s next chief executive will lead the UK broadcaster into the “most important phase” in its 42-year history.
The identity of Channel 4’s next CEO was likely a talking point as the network hosted its annual drinks with suppliers on Tuesday. Content boss Ian Katz, who has previously told staff his future is uncertain amid the changing of the guard, is expected to speak.
Meanwhile, in a sign of the UK TV industry’s circularity, Mahon has been touted as a potential replacement for Tim Davie as BBC director general. That job closes applications at the end of the month.