'The web is getting into our DNA'

With the average tenure of a CIO in the region of three to four years, Ian Dobb should be something of an anomaly, having headed up IT at Channel 4 for more than 10 years. But at the broadcaster his long tenure is nothing special - the top IT team has been together for nine years, the outgoing Channel 4 CIO told silicon.com.

"It's a great place to work. It's a great brand; everyone knows what it does and what it brings. There was a real buzz around the place and it's a very friendly organisation as well. I don't like politics and [Channel 4] is very much people focused on what they're good at, and getting on with delivering it," he said.

With a decade in the CIO's chair behind him, Dobb has been witness to a transformation at the broadcaster which has seen it change from a single channel, analogue broadcaster into a multiplatform, multichannel company which launched its own video-on-demand service - 4oD - more than a year before its BBC rival iPlayer hit the web.

"If you look at the web space and our presence there, whether it's channel4.com or 4oD, it's gone from really nothing and it's now starting to get into the DNA of the channel - thinking about multichannel permissions, multiplatform content - whereas before it was very much broadcast, broadcast, broadcast," Dobb said.

Not all of Channel 4's experiments with online content have ended in success - Project Kangaroo, a video-on-demand collaboration with BBC and ITV was axed this year after the Competition Commission decided the scheme would pose a risk to competition.

"It's disappointing," Dobb said of the decision. "I personally think it's the wrong decision. A framework could have been put in place to protect against particular concerns. Talking as a UK consumer, I would have preferred a single place to go to get my video content online. The fact we now have to shop around - 'what channel was that on', 'where do I go for it' - is a backwards step."

But while Channel 4 continues to develop its online offerings - Mac compatibility will be coming to Channel4.com videos, according to Dobb - the growth of online is a threat as well as an opportunity for the broadcaster.

With the analogue broadcast switch-off set for 2012 - not to mention the creeping appearance of IPTV - Channel 4 will find itself fighting for market share with an increasing number of channels. Such an increase in competition, combined with the recession's impact on ad sales - the channel's "lifeblood" as Dobb puts it - Channel 4 is set for some tough times ahead.

Needless to say, the prioritisation of cost-cutting has already hit the IT department.

"The vast majority of revenues goes on content and therefore we have to keep operating costs very low. It's a very lean and mean...

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