TV doesn’t need another boss. It needs a gardener.
And the most important job in British broadcasting is not at Channel 4...
All the talk this week is about the departure of Ch 4’s Chief Exec Alex Mahon and already people are speculating as to who will replace her. But actually, I think there is a more important position that is being recruited for which seems to have been widely ignored in the press. A new Chief Content Officer is soon to be appointed at the BBC. Reporting directly to Tim Davie, this isn’t just another leadership reshuffle. It’s a fork in the road not just for for the BBC but for British broadcasting as a whole.
Because what’s needed isn’t just someone who knows how to make great TV. It’s someone who understands that the entire creative economy needs rebuilding from the ground up.
Right now, the fundamentals are broken in commercial TV:
Broadcasters are scrambling to stay profitable as ad spend fractures across platforms.
Production budgets are shrinking, even as creative demands rise.
Channels are betting that “shared viewing moments” can beat YouTube and TikTok but without the tools to win.
And despite popular thinking, I don’t believe you can fix a broken system by just commissioning ‘better’ TV shows.
At the heart of the problem is the business of TV, rather than the content per se (which is lamentable at times, but hear me out).
Producers are being crushed. Forced to deliver more for less. Locked out of rights deals. Squeezed until there’s no incentive left to nurture IP or build long-term value.
What’s going on here is basic economics - the creative version of the Laffer Curve.
The Laffer Curve, originally an economic theory, suggests that beyond a certain point, increasing tax rates actually reduces total tax revenue. When tax becomes too high, taxpayers lose motivation to earn or declare income if they see diminishing returns. Or they just leave the country.
The same principle applies here: the harder broadcasters squeeze producers by offering lower budgets and demanding ever-greater rights grabs, the less overall value gets created. With lower tariffs producers can’t make a living off standard production fees anymore, but they also lose the incentive to fight for the success of IP they no longer own. Broadcasters end up with stagnant, underdeveloped properties that don't generate meaningful returns.
Squeeze too hard and you shrink the total pot. Take too much control, and you stifle the very growth you need. The broadcaster or channel ends up sitting on ownership rights they have neither the time, energy, nor commercial hunger to properly exploit. The production companies, denied their rightful upside, also slowly wither. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom for the entire industry.
That's why the creator economy on other platforms has boomed. Creators who own their own IP - who can see directly how to make money from it - do so. They have a direct dialogue with their consumers, building not just content, but entire ecosystems: merchandise, events, publications, brand extensions. Channels are never going to bother doing that for every single one of their productions, but guess what? The producers who are making it might be highly incentivised to do so, if they have ownership and a stake in the outcome.
The BBC could be the antidote to this.
It could lead by example - showing the industry what sustainable, generous, future-facing commissioning looks like. But first, it must be brutally honest about what it has become.
The BBC's Shield of Privilege
The BBC has often been immune to the real hardship of the commercial industry. With guaranteed income from the licence fee, it pleads poverty but its financial struggles are largely self-inflicted.
Mission creep has been allowed to sprawl unchecked. News, radio, digital spin-offs, education initiatives, commercial subsidiaries, multiple TV channels, podcasts, international sales arms - all bolted onto a foundation originally meant for public service broadcasting. The result? A slow, defensive institution, more concerned with guarding its turf than empowering a wider creative sector - a role I passionately think it should be playing.
When challenged, it digs in. Vigorously defending every square inch of its empire. Insisting it must do everything for everyone.
But that’s precisely the wrong strategy now - especially in this new commercial world.
The BBC must become smaller and more collaborative.
Not weaker. Not less ambitious. But more focused, more open and more catalytic. Now is the time for the BBC to re-invent the wheel, step in and save an industry.
From King to Gardener
The BBC doesn’t need to dominate every platform. It needs to nourish the soil.
That means opening up its vast archive - one of the richest cultural resources in the world - to independent producers. Imagine the commercial and creative boom if production companies could license, rework, and build new formats from the BBC’s back catalogue.
That means creating commissioning structures that treat British producers as allies, not adversaries. If budgets are falling, rights shares must become more generous. Because when producers have skin in the game, they invest in making IP travel.
Right now, too many deals are short-sighted. Channels grab every right they can - then sit on them. Producers walk away after delivery, because there's no upside to staying involved. Audiences are left with one-and-done hits, instead of rich worlds that could have grown into franchises.
Everyone loses.
If the BBC led the way with fairer, future-proofed deals, the whole sector would thrive. Imagine the investment that would flow into the UK if new economics were brought to bear. The fact is, the old commissioning agreements aren't really fit for practice. They worked for a bygone era and I’m sorry to say institutions like PACT really haven't kept up to speed with it all, or if they have, no-one is listening to them.
And yet no one’s saying this. Why? Because too many leaders at the top have no idea what’s happening on the shop floor of the industry. The real pressure points. The broken deals. The lost incentives. That’s where the crisis lives and it’s where the answers have to come from.
One could argue the BBC is already comparatively generous - but if it became even more generous still, the other channels would have to react. All the best ideas would flow the the BBC and it would become the leader it once was in the industry.
Learning from the Creator Economy
However, it’s not just about business. The new Chief Content Officer must also understand the new physics of audience attention.
In the creator economy, ownership is everything and therefore they have greater conversations with their superfans. Digital-first creators don’t hand over their rights for a flat fee - they build brands, communities, businesses around their IP.
And audiences respond. They buy into the authenticity, the energy, the sense that creators are building something - not just selling it. People no longer have conversations with broadcasters - no matter how many times Ch4, 5 or the BBC try to tell you they do.
Traditional broadcasters, including the BBC, have been slow to grasp this shift - or if they do, admit it to anyone else. Clinging to old commissioning models that strip creators of ownership, then wondering why younger audiences drift away.
If the BBC wants to be relevant in 2030, it must internalise this lesson. It must create structures that allow creators, both in-house and external, to retain meaningful stakes in what they build.
Ownership equals energy. Energy equals growth. Growth equals rewards for all parties.
What Needs to Happen Next
Here's the checklist the new Chief Content Officer should be working from:
Shrink the BBC's internal sprawl. Focus ruthlessly on core missions in key verticals - non-scripted, fact ent, sports, religion, education. Bring back science and the big strands like Horizon - the brands that can start conversations. Help producers start their own brands which The BBC can commission into.
Open the archive to licensed re-use by production companies for a one off fee. As I stated in an earlier article, this can be funded by a tiered license fee.
Move from owning everything to partnering meaningfully on rights. Create incentive structures that reward long-term IP building. Treat indie producers as an extension of the BBC’s mission, not as contractors.
Shift away from defensive empire-building toward collaborative leadership. Reframe success not by market share, but by market growth.
This won’t be easy. It will mean standing up to internal pressure. It will mean letting go of old status symbols, audience share, ratings dominance, news reach, in favour of deeper, slower-burning metrics.
But if the BBC can pivot, it will lead again.
If it can't, it will ossify. Trapped between a commercial sector it has undermined and a digital sector it can't keep up with.
The Hard Question
From the limited job spec I’ve seen on LinkedIn, there's a real risk they’ll just pick a brilliant TV insider. Someone who knows traditional commissioning cold, but hasn’t lived the multi-format, creator-first reality.
But if you haven't launched a hit podcast, built a digital-first brand, or fought to monetise IP in a fragmented world - how can you lead the BBC into a sustainable future? Why bring in yet another suit from a corporate world. Bring in an outsider who can think outside the box.
The BBC must choose a Gardener - not a Gatekeeper.
Someone ready to open doors, enrich the soil, and help the whole industry grow. If The BBC was saying it was supporting the entire British Creator Economy, maybe the Government would stop trying to kill it.
Maybe this is what the head-hunters are looking for. I dearly hope so. But let let’s see. Let’s hope the BBC doesn't squander this brilliant opportunity.
However, underlying all this, here's the real question that needs to be answered:
Is the BBC too entrenched in its old ways to change?
Or can Tim Davie and whoever he hires, find the imagination, and the stomach, to rebuild public service media for a new century?
If so, another question naturally follows: which person, from which media industry, should the headhunters be looking at?
Are they brave enough to look beyond the familiar shortlist of traditional TV execs? Are they ready to search for hybrid creators, digital entrepreneurs, and cross-platform builders who know how to nurture audiences, not just schedule around them?
The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Hit reply - tell me what you think. Who would you tap to lead the BBC into its next chapter? Is the BBC finally ready to pivot from empire to ecosystem?