David Abraham is the Chief Executive of the United Kingdom's Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 television corporation, appointed in January 2010 he formally took up his post on 4 May 2010. He was previously Chief Executive of UKTV

UKTV

UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008...

.

Previous career

Like his predecessor as Chief Executive, Andy Duncan

Andy Duncan (executive)

Andy Duncan was chief executive of Britain's Channel 4 television channel from July 2004 to November 2009, the first not to have a background in programme making. He was previously director of marketing, communications and audiences at the BBC and the founding chairman of Freeview...

, 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. During the 1990s he co-founded the advertising agency St Luke's and helped reposition major consumer businesses such as The Body Shop

Body shop

Body shopping is the practice of consultancy firms recruiting information technology workers in order to contract their services out on short-term bases...

 and BP

BP

BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

. In the United States he was vice-president of the Discovery Home network and president and general manager of the TLC

TLC (TV channel)

TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...

 channel for Discovery Networks. As head of UKTV from 2007 he oversaw the re-branding of UKTV channels such as Dave, G.O.L.D., Yesterday and Blighty.

Channel Four

His basic salary at Channel Four was reported to be £490,000 which is £100,000 less than that of his predecessor.

One of his first actions as head of the channel was said to be beginning talks aimed at a takeover of Five. The cancellation of a deal to return Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross

Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...

 to Channel 4 was also attributed to him. 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.

Personal life

Abraham is the son of immigrants to England, his mother from Belgium and his father a local government architect originally from Calcutta. He was state educated and graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

 in 1984 with a degree in Modern History. He lives with his daughter and son in the London Borough of Hackney.

External links

• Interview with Abraham prior to his appointment at Channel Four