The shortlist has been whittled down to men with strong links to the City and the ITV board, with the nominations committee being led by Sir Brian Pitman.
Whoever takes the job will have to answer to investors who have played an active role at the company, already ousting Carlton chairman Michael Green at the end of last year in a dramatic coup.
At the beginning of the month it was reported that shareholders might want the new chairman to review the role of ITV chief executive Charles Allen, who has been criticised for not cutting enough costs.
Both candidates fulfil some of the requirements for the role as they have both led FTSE 100 firms and are respected as tough businessmen. Gardiner is due to step down as chairman of Tesco in March after 16 years on the board.
He is also a former chief executive and chairman of engineering group Cammell Laird and is on the board of The Economist. Previous roles include writing for The Financial Times Lex column as well as directorships of the 3i group, Powergen and Enterprise Oil.
Burt stood down as chief executive of HBOS last year. Following the merger of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax in 2001, Burt became deputy chairman then was later made chief executive of the combined group.
His experience of seeing through a major merger will stand him in good stead as ITV begins its first year as a single company.
It is thought that the favoured candidate will be announced before the group publishes its results on March 3.
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