Michael Grade can expect to be out of ITV 'by the summer of this year', says Ray Snoddy

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A fortnight ago, he resigned as executive chairman and is now simply a non-executive chairman of ITV, but Michael Grade might expect his P45 from all his jobs at the commercial broadcaster by the end of the summer, according to the doyen of media commentators, Raymond Snoddy .

No incoming CEO would want to work with Grade, Snoddy said in a lecture yesterday.

"What self-respecting chief executive will come in by definition of wanting to change the organisation? Because it has really dire problems," he said.

Snoddy, who has written on the British broadcasting industry, latterly as media editor of the Financial Times and The Times for well over a quarter of century, was speaking on Wednesday at the Coventry Conversations , a series of media lectures at Coventry University.

He was unequivocal in his condemnation of Grade's

business acumen

, saying 'he [Grade] has only been successful at running regulated businesses', suggesting that Grade had run the family business, First Leisure, into the ground.

"He does not like to talk about it," Snoddy added.

On April 23, ITV announced £2.7 billion in losses and that Grade would step down , causing a drop in share prices. ITV's share price at time of writing stands at 39.75p; when Grade was named executive chairman in January 2007, it was 108p.

Snoddy said the misgivings surrounding Sir Michael would inevitably see him leave the company 'by the summer of this year'.

Snoddy said he would 'not condemn' 66-year-old Michael Grade for taking up the role primarily on the grounds of his age, but was surprised at his apparent 'unwillingness to learn about the new', during his 30-month tenure as executive chair.

Snoddy, the 63-year-old former media editor of The Times, argued that age should not inhibit the 'life-long learning process'.

He cited Grade's unwillingness to do a deal with Google and YouTube, which Grade dubbed as 'parasites', over the recent 'Britain’s Got Talent' Susan Boyle internet phenomenon , which could cost ITV millions in revenue .

"Instead of denouncing those 'parasites', he should have been doing a deal so that ITV gets paid for all the programmes that go on YouTube. I talked to a senior Google executive a couple of weeks back, and they can't get ITV to do a deal," said Snoddy.

"ITV thinks they can put everything on ITV.com and take on Google. That is why Michael Grade, in my view, deserves to be heading towards the exit."

Snoddy said Grade made the 'right choice' by defecting from the BBC in 2006, because he could 'bolster up' the beleaguered broadcaster.

He said Grade had 'assembled a very good team', but failed to recognise and embrace the advantages of new media and failed to manage the decline in a better way.

"He should have gone in as non-executive chairman, to do the glad-handing, and brought in somebody who really understood the modern world instead as chief executive," said Snoddy.

Snoddy also forecast the final curtain for another senior TV executive. He predicted that Channel 4's Andy Duncan would also be likely to stand down from his role as the current chief executive this summer, as he seemed to have lost the confidence of the current chairman.

"He might hang on until the new chairperson comes in. But I don't know of anyone who thinks he has done a good job. A very nice person, but of course, that isn't the issue," Snoddy said.

John Mair is senior lecturer in broadcasting at Coventry University and organiser of the Coventry Conversations , a series of events featuring high-profile media figures. The scheduled line-up for summer 2009 can be viewed at this link .