Time is running out for ITV chief executive Charles Allen, for whom ITV's interim results on 9 August and an anticipated dire set of advertising figures have been billed as D-Day.
The man who took the helm at the merged ITV, edged out his main rival, Michael Green, sold off hundreds of millions of pounds of non-core assets and swept out its commercial management, is said to be laying the ground for his own departure.
Several possible successors have emerged: Stephen Carter, outgoing Ofcom chief executive; former BBC director general Greg Dyke; ex-BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball; former Flextech content chief Malcolm Wall and Sky's MD of channels and services, Dawn Airey.
Carter has steered the regulator through a minefield of legislation, while carving out a reputation as a forward thinker, pragmatic to the commercial sector's cause. The former J Walter Thompson chief executive has seen his stock rise since his time as boss of the troubled NTL, while ITV's share price has gone in the opposite direction.
"He has the regulatory skills, the new media knowledge and the knowledge of the advertising market. The big question mark is over his creativity," says one senior TV figure.
If ITV could parachute anyone in to the job, it might be Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan. Yet, most believe Duncan would be mad to leave C4 for ITV. Dyke has been involved in two failed venture capital bids for ITV this year, but his hsitory may hinder any such ambition.
Dream team
"Dyke may have had thousands of BBC people on the streets to cheer him off, but ITV needs someone who can convince the Government to dump CRR, and they have a bit of history don't they?"
Nevertheless, some talk of a "dream team", with Dyke as chairman and Carter as chief executive.
The possibility that ITV may get Carter heralds the chance of a delicious irony - the former Ofcom boss pleading with the regulator for ITV to be released from CRR's shackles.
Allen's departure would leave a question mark over the future of Ian McCulloch, ITV's commercial director, and Simon Shaps, director of television, who form the nucleus of his management team.
McCulloch has been at the forefront of the appeal to unravel CRR, claiming it has made ITV1's business model untenable. But, despite some legitimate excuses, such as the rapid growth of Freeview and the overall weak TV market, it is ITV1's programming performance which could be the final nail in Allen's coffin.
"The CRR is an issue to a certain extent," says one TV industry boss. "But if C4 had a CRR mechanism in place, they would be making more money. ITV's problems fundamentally come down to the schedule."
Despite the importance of shows such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, a reliance on Granada productions, which account for more than 60% of ITV's output, is blamed by many for ITV missing out on the best programmes. Talent from the independent sector has appeared more at home with the likes of C4.
At the same time, figures like C4's Duncan and the BBC's Mark Thompson have emerged as the new breed of TV boss, with their grasp of the importance of new media platforms - another area where, despite its purchase of Friends Reunited, ITV has failed to convince the market.
Takeover issue
It is new media upon which the big American TV giants appear to be focused, meaning the once anticipated US takeover of the merged ITV has become unlikely, at least for now.
Sky would not be allowed to buy ITV under existing monopolies laws and RTL, owner of Five, is probably the only other broadcaster which might be interested.
However, despite its woes, ITV retains a huge slice of the UK advertising market, with its digital spin-offs widely hailed as a success, and it continues to attract interest from venture capitalists.
Former United Business Media boss Lord Hollick, himself a former joint owner in Five, is among bidding names touted, as is Roger Parry, chairman of Johnston Press and Future. ITV plc could still bounce back.
"As the biggest commercial broadcaster by far in one of the world's leading economies, ITV is easily big enough and ugly enough to look after itself," adds one analyst. "Maybe what it does need is a new type of management."
PRESSURE MOUNTS ON ITV's BOSS
March: ITV chairman Sir Peter Burt rejects a second takeover bid led by investment bank Goldman Sachs and Allen's old adversary, Greg Dyke, valuing the company at 130p a share, only for shares to plummet and for the bank's expectations for the company to appear optimistic.
April: The World Cup in Germany has turned into an advertising disaster for ITV, which falls tens of millions of pounds short of its ad revenue target, following a massively disappointing response from clients. It threatens to boycott future major events.
June: Allen begins a round of talks with advertisers, urging them to support an end to CRR or see ITV1 become untenable. He wins the support of P&G, but ISBA comes out in defence of CRR. In the same month, ITV records its worst ratings week ever in the last week of the World Cup, despite getting the biggest audience of the event for the England v Sweden game.
July: With shares in ITV dropping below the symbolic £1 mark and ad revenues forecast to be down nearly 20% in September, shareholders are reported to be turning up the heat on Allen who is reported to be laying the ground for his departure, as ITV's interim results loom on August 9.
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