Bbc leadership race tightens as Matt Brittin emerges and senior contenders step back
Matt Brittin has emerged as the prime candidate to replace Tim Davie as director-general, while a string of high-profile executives have declined to put their names forward. The contest matters now because the next leader will inherit negotiations over the licence fee, a looming $10bn lawsuit and sizeable spending cuts at a moment when the faces mounting editorial and commercial pressure.
Matt Brittin’s candidacy and credentials
Industry figures identify Matt Brittin, the former head of Google’s European operations, as the front-runner. Brittin, 57, left Google last year after 18 years, the last 10 as president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; he is Cambridge-educated and rowed for Team GB at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Some colleagues stress his experience in dealing with regulators and politicians — contacts that supporters argue will be useful in talks with Whitehall and the Treasury — while other staffers are wary that he lacks direct programme-making experience.
Charlotte Moore, Jay Hunt and Alex Mahon step back or face uncertainty
Charlotte Moore, who led the broadcaster’s TV and radio output across two decades and helped develop programmes including Happy Valley and Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet, is named as a rival in some accounts but the context also records that she did not apply; her precise application status is unclear in the provided context. Jay Hunt, the former One controller and Channel 4 chief creative officer now at Apple TV, was an early favourite but did not submit an application despite being sounded out. Alex Mahon, who left Channel 4 last year to run the events company Superstruct, is likewise no longer in the running; the job was said to have come up too soon for her and some within the organisation did not see her as the right fit.
board and Samir Shah face licence-fee overhaul
The board, led by chairman Samir Shah, will choose a director-general at a pivotal moment. The incoming leader will be thrust into negotiations with the Government over a radical overhaul of the licence fee: non-payment and evasion cost the broadcaster £1bn last year. Board members are explicitly seeking a candidate with the “resilience” to withstand intense public scrutiny.
Bafta incident, Lisa Nandy and the internal investigation
Recent editorial crises are part of the backdrop for the recruitment drive. A chain of events involving Bafta, independent producers and the broadcaster led to the N-word appearing in televised Bafta coverage after Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson shouted the slur while actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. The culture secretary Lisa Nandy issued a Wednesday night statement after several apologies and the announcement of an internal investigation that focused on the broadcaster’s failings. Inside the corporation, senior figures expressed horror and admitted to a major mistake, and critics say the accumulation of such crises has contributed to Davie’s decision to leave earlier than planned.
Financial, legal and operational pressures: £600m cuts and a $10bn lawsuit
The new director-general will have to identify £600m in additional cuts announced by Davie before his departure, turbo-charge commercial income from selling shows, and try to win back audiences migrating to deep-pocketed streaming platforms. There is also a $10bn lawsuit filed by the US President over the Panorama edit of a Donald Trump speech; the case is set for trial in Florida next year and the next leader must decide whether to fight or seek a settlement. The combination of legal risk, a £1bn shortfall from licence-fee evasion and the need to find fresh revenue underlines the scale of the challenge.
Selection hurdles, past figures and internal talent
Recruitment discussions have also touched on other senior figures. Mark Thompson was sounded out about a return but is settled in the US and has already been knighted for a previous tenure; Kevin Bakhurst, now director-general at Ireland’s RTÉ, declined to apply and is not expected to pursue a proposed new deputy director-general role intended to make the top job more manageable. The selection panel could also raise Brittin’s 2016 appearance before the Commons Public Accounts Committee, when he said he could not recall his exact Google salary and defended the company’s UK tax arrangements; the committee chair Meg Hillier said he “lived in a different world” to many constituents. Brittin is believed to have earned many multiples of the £550, 000 the director-general role pays and may hold Google stock that would have to be placed in a trust if he were appointed.
John Shield, the broadcaster’s former director of communications, framed the role as uniquely demanding: a leader must be a creative chief in an inflationary environment, exercise sharp editorial judgment amid fractious politics, adapt to rapidly changing viewing habits and secure a sustainable funding model. What makes this notable is that the next director-general must deliver all of that while repairing editorial trust and defending the organisation against legal and political pressure.
One prominent media figure summed up the dilemma as a “wonderful, beautiful, terrible poisoned chalice, ” capturing why several top executives have declined to enter the contest. The pathway to the post is narrowing, but the exact shape of the final field and some application details remain unclear in the provided context.
