Channel 4 chairman takes a pop at Grade

Over to Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson for some pointed advice to his ITV rival Michael Grade. Writing today in his FT column, Luke says: "Companies in trouble can end up relying too much on one man. ITV is in danger of finding itself in that situation. For a very brief period, it made sense for Michael Grade to serve as executive chairman, with no chief executive. I did the same for a few months at Channel 4 when Mark Thompson suddenly left to head the BBC." Luke goes on: "But, after 18 months, Michael Grade remains in the post and the board still lacks the supervision and extra scrutiny a non-executive chairman would bring. A senior non-executive director just cannot do the same job. I do not believe the broadcasting industry has insufficient managerial talent to provide a fresh chief executive - and, in any event, it is possible to bring in brains from outside the sector. If I were him, I wouldn't hang around - the next 18 months could be really tough for the UK's commercial TV business." Over to you, Michael.