Since joining Channel 4 as the sixth Chief Executive in May this year, David Abraham has made significant changes to the senior management team. The latest of which is the appointment of Ids Director of Sales Andy Atkinson, who will oversee the integration of the UKTV sales contract from 2011.

UKTV is the brainchild of Virgin Media and BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC) and owns the Dave and Watch TV digital channels along with 8-eight pay-TV stations. But yesterday, Media Week stated that the broadcasting company found it difficult to hand over its £1bn ten year advertising deal to Channel 4.

Channel 4 was established to bridge the gap between the BBC’s public service obligations and ITVs commercial interests, both of which lacked the cultural diversity emerging in the 1980s. However, now some critics have attacked both David Abraham and the channel’s decision to appoint Atkinson as lacking the kind of diversity Channel 4′s remit demands. 

The station, the critics claim, excluded the many successful women already in the industry from their shortlist (women like Jane Root, Lorraine Heggessey of Talkback Thames and Sky’s Sophie Turner Laing).

Andy Barnes, Sales Director of Channel 4, has told marketing news publication Brand Republic that he is “delighted we have managed to secure someone as talented and experienced as Andy. Working together I am confident we can successfully fulfil our UKTV sales contract in a way that compliments Channel 4′s AdSales”.

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