The new odds make Jackson joint second favourite behind Mark Byford, the acting director-general of the BBC who was earlier this week tipped as favourite to win the race.
Jackson, who is chairman of Universal Television, is expected to depart along with David Goldhill, president and chief operating officer, following the completion of Universal's merger with General Electric's NBC.
The new merged group will be dominated by NBC executives. Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC Entertainment, has already been named as president of the merged broadcaster's entertainment, news and cable businesses, reflecting the ownership structure that sees GE hold 80% and Vivendi Universal 20%.
Jackson is so far not believed to have applied for the BBC job but he would be an obvious choice, with a long history at the BBC and having previously being tipped as a future director-general before heading off to Channel 4 in 1997 and subsequently USA Networks in July 2001.
Before joining Channel 4, Jackson was the BBC's director of television and controller of BBC One. At Channel 4, he was credited with developing the station's commercial operation 4 Ventures and creating its film channel and entertainment channels, FilmFour and E4.
Punters still want to back Jackson's replacement at Channel 4, Mark Thompson, despite declaring himself out of the race. His odds have been cut from 5/1 to 7/2 to 4/1 putting him alongside his successor.
Odds on the BBC's director of television Jana Bennett and Sky Networks managing director Dawn Airey have lengthened from a joint 5/1 to 6/1 and 7/1 respectively. The BBC's head of radio Jenny Abramsky has dropped from 8/1 to 10/1.
Other contenders are United Productions chief executive John Willis at 16/1, BBC Worldwide chief executive Rupert Gavin at 20/1, and former chief executive of Granada Content Simon Shaps at 25/1.
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