David Abraham (born 1963, Lincoln, Lincolnshire)[1] is the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom's Channel 4 television corporation, appointed in January 2010 he formally took up his post on 4 May 2010.[2] He was previously Chief Executive of UKTV.
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Like his predecessor as Chief Executive, Andy Duncan, Abraham's background is in commerce rather than television production. However, prior to his appointment at Channel Four he gained 9 years experience controlling pay-TV channels in both the UK and US.[3] During the 1990s he co-founded the advertising agency St Luke's[4] and helped reposition major consumer businesses such as The Body Shop and BP. In the United States he was vice-president of the Discovery Home network[5] and president and general manager of the TLC channel for Discovery Networks.[6] As head of UKTV from 2007 he oversaw the re-branding of UKTV channels such as Dave, G.O.L.D., Yesterday and Blighty.[7]
His basic salary at Channel Four was reported to be £490,000 which is £100,000 less than that of his predecessor.[8]
One of his first actions as head of the channel was said to be beginning talks aimed at a takeover of Five.[9] The cancellation of a deal to return Jonathan Ross to Channel 4 was also attributed to him.[10] On the first anniversary of his appointment, despite continuing decline in Channel Four's share of viewing, Abraham reportedly saw his task as making "incremental improvements" rather than sweeping changes.[11]
Abraham is the son of immigrants to England, his mother from Belgium and his father a local government architect originally from Calcutta.[12] He was state educated and graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1984 with a degree in Modern History.[13] He lives with his daughter and son in the London Borough of Hackney.[1]
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| Preceded by Andy Duncan |
Chief Executive of Channel 4 2010 - present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |