Carlton and Granada are due to merge in January. Green was to be executive chairman, while Allen is still expected to become chief executive of the merged ITV companies.
However, shareholder Fidelity, which succeeded last week in its bid to get rid of Green after the merger, is understood to be among a number of investors threatening to give Allen the same treatment if he does not turn the company around quickly, including achieving higher cost savings from the merger than originally planned.
Headhunters are expected to be asked this week to start the search for a permanent chairman for ITV after Green was forced out. One of the first tasks for a new chairman, according to Granada senior non-executive Sir George Russell, would be to determine the shape of the board, including Allen's performance.
An interim chairman is likely to be appointed next week, and Sir Brian Pitman, former chairman of Lloyds TSB and a senior non-executive director at Carlton, is thought to be the frontrunner for the job.
The appointment of Pitman would help to reassure Carlton executives who are concerned that the merger is looking more like a hostile takeover by Granada, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
When the management line-up for ITV was announced after the Department of Trade and Industry approved the deal, the top layer showed bias toward Granada, with three of the top four positions going to Granada executives.
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