Alex Mahon to step down as CEO of Channel 4 after nearly eight years

Alex Mahon is stepping down as the CEO of UK public broadcaster Channel 4 after nearly eight years in the role.

Alex Mahon

Mahon joined the broadcaster in 2017 as the channel’s first female CEO but will depart this summer, C4 announced today.

Chief operating officer Jonathan Allan will serve as interim CEO while the board undertake a comprehensive recruitment process over the coming months to ensure continued outstanding leadership into its future.

Alex Mahon said: “Working at Channel 4 has been a lifetime privilege because Channel 4 is the most extraordinary organisation. What we get to do here is much more than television because we reflect our country with humour, creativity, grit, and care. We try our best to challenge convention and to change conversations. And we do it with a kind of irreverent brilliance that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.

“I feel lucky beyond belief to have had the chance to lead Channel 4 for nearly eight years – through calm seas (very few) and stormy waters (more than our fair share). From navigating the threat of privatisation (twice), to shifting out of London, to digital transformation, lockdowns, political upheaval, advertising chaos – there has never been a dull moment. But through every twist and turn, there’s been one constant: the astonishing calibre, resilience, and creativity of all my colleagues at Channel 4.

“Together, I hope that we have evolved what Channel 4 means and what it stands for. We’ve protected the brand, even as we reinvented it. We’ve stayed risky, relevant and relentlessly new – with 60% of our shows fresh each year. And through it all, it’s been the programmes – and their impact – that have brought me the most joy and pride.”

London-born Mahon began her career in television as a senior strategy executive at RTL Group in 2000, before being appointed director of commercial development and strategy at Fremantle Media. She was also COO at Talkback Thames and a board member of producers association Pact.

Mahon has previously served as CEO of global producer Shine Group between 2006 and 2015, as well as CEO of special effects outfit Foundry.

She joined C4 as the organisation’s first female chief in 2017. Since then, Mahon has secured C4’s public ownership through two privatisation attempts, overseen a digital-first strategy intended to make C4 the first “public service streamer”, expanded its social media presence and grown the broadcaster’s commitment to British IP and Nations and Regions programming.

There have been tough times too. Last year, C4 were forced to cut hundreds of jobs as the commercially funded broadcaster felt the impact of a severe advertising downturn. C4 has also faced criticism for a lack of commissioning activity in recent months, while pursuing plans to make its own content for the first time.

During her tenure, C4 has aired high profile shows such as Russel T Davies’s AIDs crisis drama It’s a Sin, documentary Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, hit format The Piano and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games coverage.

Mahon has campaigned for fairness in the workplace, launched the UK media’s first menopause and pregnancy loss policies and recently called for urgent industry action to ensure young people can find verified news content on social media.

C4 claim that despite the shock announcement, the broadcaster is in “excellent health and with a strong and highly experienced management team in place.”

Dawn Airey, C4 interim chair, said: “Alex is a great figure in British television. She has been one of the most impactful CEOs since Jeremy Isaacs’ founding of C4 more than 42 years ago.

“She is business minded and has also been transformational both culturally and creatively, proving time and again her extraordinary ability to inspire and drive positive and meaningful change. Under her leadership, C4 has moved with the times and driven the times.

“Her commitment to C4’s public service mission has been unwavering. She has backed entertaining, shocking, interesting telly, never playing it safe and her grit and resilience more than met the rough-tough challenges of recent times.

“She leaves a strengthened and well-run C4 that will continue to flourish, with its Fast Forward strategy reengineering the organisation for the future.

“While change is never easy, especially when so consequential, I could not be more pleased that Jonathan Allan, our excellent Chief Operating Officer, will serve as interim CEO while the Board focuses on a permanent replacement for Alex.”