U.K. Broadcaster Channel 4 Names Sky and Former Warner Bros. Discovery Exec Priya Dogra CEO
U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 has named Priya Dogra its new CEO, succeeding Alex Mahon who stepped down this summer after eight years.
Dogra joined Comcast-owned Sky last summer as its chief advertising, group data, and new revenue officer. She previously worked at Warner Bros. Discovery and its predecessors for 14 years, ending up as the company’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 also have been in the final running for the post.
Dogra will join Channel 4 in March, with Allan continuing in the role of interim CEO until then.
“Priya is an outstanding executive, a visionary leader and has a formidable intellect,” said Channel 4 chair Geoff Cooper. “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.”
Cooper also lauded Allan’s “impressive leadership” as interim CEO, saying: “Jonathan has stepped up to guide Channel 4 through the second half of the year with skill, insight and energy. His steady hand on the tiller has helped Channel 4 move forward through the choppy market conditions in the last part of the year. The Channel 4 Board is extremely grateful for his contribution.”
Said Dogra about her appointment: “Joining Channel 4 at this moment is a genuine privilege. Few organizations 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 U.K., 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.”
Earlier this year, Channel 4 said it would be moving into in-house production in a sea change and will also start exploring buying production companies with “strong commercial potential” in an evolution of its acquisition strategy. Over the course of its 40-year history, the broadcaster has concentrated on greenlighting its content from independent production companies, but 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 at the time that it would follow a new “twin-track approach” to investing in intellectual property (IP) ownership, “incorporating a phased move into in-house production and the launch of a new Creative Investment Fund” focused on buying or building majority stakes in independent production banners and “content producers with strong commercial potential.”
In early 2024, Channel 4 unveiled a five-year strategy to reshape itself and “accelerate 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 close to 2021 levels, “but with the organization in the right shape to deliver further digital growth and lead public service media into the future.”
Other plans unveiled baclk then included “moving out of Channel 4’s London base in the next few years, with 600 roles based outside of London by the end of 2025, lower head count in London overall, and a shift to flexible working, including “a new fit-for-purpose office space in central London”; and “closing small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale, including the Box channels in 2024 and others at the right time.”
