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With ‘Lord Fixit', aka Lord Burns, next in line for the chairmanship at Channel 4, let's hope this will be the start of the broadcaster's road to recovery.

After months of toing and froing between C4 and BBC Worldwide, who have failed to announce their much-anticipated ‘large-scale tie-up', Lord Burns' appointment by Ofcom comes as a welcome development.

He is a man with lobbying skills who has been parachuted into various challenging situations by the government. Lord Burns was involved in inquiries into hunting in 2000, the National Lottery Commission in 2002 and the Football Association in 2004. He was also part of the BBC review in the run-up to the Royal Charter renewal.

C4, which claims to have a £150m funding shortfall from 2012, needs the right leadership immediately to ensure it is best placed to secure future funding. Lord Burns' lobbying skills will be vital.

As outgoing C4 chairman Luke Johnson rightly acknowledged recently, even if a tie-up between C4 and BBC Worldwide eventually happens, it would not be sufficient to secure the broadcaster's future funding position. Fighting for a slice of BBC licence-fee money, as Johnson said, will also be key.

While a chairman with influence in government circles is vital to securing C4's financial future, the position is only a part-time job. Having the right chief executive is equally crucial.

Some may argue that, now a lobbyist is in place, a creative such as C4's director of programmes Kevin Lygo or ITV director of television Peter Fincham can be slotted into the chief executive's role. But more is needed.

Both men would make good creative decisions and, as one of the richest men in TV after making millions following the sale of production company Talk­Back to Fremantle, Fincham also has commercial experience.

However, as C4's needs change, so too do its requirements of its day-to-day leader. And whoever that is, there are other essential qualities a new chief executive must bring to the job.

C4 needs a strong leader with the ability to voice the broadcaster's needs to the powers that be. The chief exec­utive needs to be as much of a lobbyist as the chairman - and at the same time, a sharp operator.

Someone with a lot of experience in the commercial sector and a strong understanding of new media is needed. Being able to identify new revenue streams is also essential.

The recent landmark C4 content deal with YouTube was a step in the right direction, but only a series of similar deals will be transformational.

C4 also needs strong involvement in Project Canvas, the internet-enabled TV service from the BBC, ITV, BT and Five. In June, it made most of its back catalogue available for free online after stating that there is no money to be made in charging for archived content.

However, C4 could find that, once the internet and TV are merged in the living room (step forward Project Canvas), people will be more inclined to pay for on-demand television and advertisers more willing to sponsor on-demand shows or sites.

So who would be an ideal candidate to run the show? I like Fru Hazlitt, a former GCap chief and ex-sales director of Yahoo! in Europe. Or how about C4 board member Martha Lane Fox? Others who could be interesting are STV chief Rob Woodward and UKTV chief David Abraham, but I hear C4 could look internationally.

If it wants to stay an independent state broadcaster, it needs a chief executive who can think commercially and digitally, while fighting C4's cause.

Amanda Andrews is media editor at The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and telegraph.co.uk

30 seconds on Lord Terry Burns

• Terence Burns was born in 1944 in mining village Hetton-le-Hole, near Sunderland. His father, Patrick, was a colliery blacksmith. Burns attended a local grammar school and went on to study economics at Manchester University.
• After graduating he took up a research post at the London Business School and served as a member of the Treasury Academic Panel.
• In 1980, Burns was appointed chief economic adviser to the Treasury. He was promoted to permanent secretary of the department in 1991. He left in 1998 and was made a life peer, taking the title Baron Burns of Pitshanger.
• Since leaving the civil service, Burns has held a variety of board memberships, includ­ing the chairmanships of Marks & Spencer and Abbey.
• He has also continued to work for the government, chairing the hunting inquiry in 2000 and National Lottery Commission between 2000 and 2001. He was an indep­endent adviser to culture secretary Tessa Jowell during the BBC Charter Review.
• In this capacity, Lord Burns recom­m­ended top-slicing the BBC licence fee to provide cash for other recipients.