The broadcaster was thrown into chaos last week when talks collapsed with Tony Ball, the former boss of BSkyB and the only favoured candidate for the chief executive role.
The company has now put its hunt for a chief executive on hold, in favour of finding a successor to chairman Michael Grade, who, for the first time, announced his intention to leave the company. The news was met with incredulity by prominent industry figures.
David Elstein, the former head of programming at BSkyB and launch chief executive of Five, called it "an embarrassing farce".
He added: "The debacle over Ball has emphasised that Michael was a problem. No one wants a failed executive chairman sitting around open endedly. Maybe it's time to pick up the phone, call [former chief of Virgin Media's content business] Malcolm Wall and get on with it."
Another leading TV figure told Media Week ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham, is where the smart money should be, claiming "sometimes it's a case of better the devil you know".
Opinion is already building about why Ball was not the right man for the job. Salary demands - thought to be as high as £42m - and his inability to work with key members of the board were cited, alongside controversial plans to introduce structural changes at ITV, including selling off its production company and putting some of its digital channels and online content behind a pay barrier.
As one former TV chief put it: "Forget who wants to be a millionaire, it's now a case of who wants to be an ITV chief executive? It's proving a hard game to master, but then there's a lot more at stake than a measly seven figures."
ITV's hunt for a CEO: Where does the Ball fallout leave ITV?
• ITV is in the midst of making its case to the Competition Commission over reform of contract rights renewal. Decisions on the "son of CRR" are due within weeks.
With no new chief executive in place and confirmation of Michael Grade's departure, ITV faces a tricky negotiation.
• ITV's failure to appoint a new chief executive comes as it enters the TV trading season. ITV already has a seasoned commercial team in place to deal with the crucial negotiations. But ITV - as well as Channel 4 - now face trading with advertisers in the grip of the worst recession in living memory without chief executives in place.
• Key decisions loom over ITV's digital strategy. With the demise of Project Kangaroo, ITV must now decide how to engage with the raft of new VoD players entering the market such as Hulu and Arqiva. Decisions taken now will shape ITV's digital strategy for several years.
• ITV is now turning its attention to finding a new chairman: this will take precedence over its chief executive hunt. An ITV spokesman said its search for a chairman is "well advanced" and will be announced in October. Front runner for the new chairmanship is media executive Sir Crispin Davis, who previously ran publishing and media group Reed Elsevier.
• Lorna Tilbian, executive director at media investment specialist Numis, advised any incoming chief executive to wait for an economic upturn before making any drastic changes to ITV's model, which has largely focused on "big event" TV shows such as The X Factor. "In the same way you don't change cars in the middle of the race, ITV should not look to dramatically change strategy now," she said.
• With no new chief executive installed, the spotlight falls back on ITV's current senior management, including chief operating officer John Cresswell (left), who are now thought to be back in the frame for the chief executive job.
.jpg)
.jpeg)