Channel 4 has raided Sky for its new chief executive as the broadcaster faces the prospect of a takeover of ITV by Comcast that would pose the biggest threat in its four-decade history.
Its board is understood to have agreed the appointment of Priya Dogra, the head of Sky’s advertising, data and new revenue, as its new chief executive.
Dogra, the former managing director for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) in Europe, Middle East and Asia, who joined Sky in a newly created role in 2024, is expected to start in the new year.
Channel 4’s former boss Alex Mahon left the company earlier this year to join Superstruct, the live entertainment company behind events including Cornwall’s Boardmasters festival.
Since then the state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster has been run on an interim basis by Jonathan Allan, who ran Channel 4’s £1bn advertising business before being promoted to chief operating officer. He had been a contender to take on the chief executive role on a permanent basis.
Dogra has been responsible for running Sky Media, which handles hundreds of millions of pounds in ad sales for the pay-TV operator’s own channels and third parties including Channel 5 and WBD.
She joined after Sky became embroiled in a scandal involving hundreds of millions of pounds after a blunder that meant it accidentally underpaid its advertising partners.
Dogra joins as Channel 4 faces the prospect of Comcast, the owner of Sky, taking over ITV’s broadcasting and streaming business.
The two companies are exploring a potential £1.6bn deal that would reshape the UK TV advertising landscape and threaten Channel 4’s future.
Channel 4, which also handles advertising sales for UKTV, the owner of channels including Dave and Gold, controls about 26% of the market for traditional TV advertising and digital spend on streaming platforms operated by UK public service broadcasters.
A combination of ITV and Sky would create an advertising powerhouse, with control of 74% of the traditional TV market and across the emerging market for broadcaster streaming services.
If a deal between Comcast and ITV comes to fruition it would be subject to extensive regulatory investigations on competition grounds, with Channel 4 expected to vigorously oppose.
Channel 4 declined to comment. Dogra’s appointment was first reported by the Financial Times.
