Simon Fox, widely considered to be the frontrunner for the chief executive role at ITV, is understood to have pulled out of the recruitment process to concentrate on the turnaround of music retailer HMV.

Fox, the chief executive of HMV, has reportedly told the company's board that it is too soon to leave because there is still almost a year of the three-year turnaround programme left to implement. A spokesman for HMV declined to comment.

This is understood to leave former BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball, ITV chief operating officer John Cresswell and Apple Europe chief Pascal Cagni on the shortlist currently being considered.

However, it is not known if Fox's withdrawal might precipitate headhunters Russell Reynolds to consider other candidates.

An earlier list of names in the frame included John Smith, the chief executive of BBC Worldwide, and Malcom Wall, who ran Virgin Media's content division until earlier this year.

ITV originally said it would have a new chief executive in place to replace Michael Grade, who is stepping back to become non-executive chairman, by the end of the year. It is now thought the appointment will not be confirmed until September at the earliest.

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