New BBC Chair Unveiled With Licence Fee Decision Expected Tomorrow
deadline.comBritish TV vet Samir Shah has been unveiled as the new BBC Chair, coming with a major decision on the licence fee imminent.
Shah, who runs production company Juniper TV and used to be a senior BBC News exec, has been appointed by the government several months after the resignation of Richard Sharp, who left the corporation after just two years amidst the conflict-of-interest scandal involving the facilitation of a potential loan for Boris Johnson.
Shah has been working on and off in TV for four decades and is well known in industry circles. He used to run the BBC’s political journalism shows and was a non-exec director during the ‘Crowngate’ affair involving Queen Elizabeth II, at which point he advised Director General Mark Thompson over a scandal that led to the resignation of BBC One Controller Peter Fincham.
He bought Juniper in 1998 and has made shows for the likes of the BBC, Channel 4, Nat Geo, Discovery, Netflix and TLC. Shah replaces Dame Elan Closs Stephens, who had been acting in the role since Sharp’s exit.
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