George Dixon to join Channel 4 as Controller of Channel Management

Channel 4 has announced the appointment of George Dixon as Controller of Channel Management.

Commenting on his appointment, David Abraham, Channel 4's Chief Executive, said: "George's career has been defined by his pioneering and innovative approach to scheduling. His work has created real impact with audiences; from the UK premiere of 24 to the relaunch of Top Gear and the stripped event scheduling pattern for BBC One drama. George is a creative at the top of his game and I look forward to him leading the scheduling strategy for the entire Channel 4 portfolio across linear and interactive media."

George Dixon added: "After five absolutely fantastic years scheduling BBC ONE and having worked across all of the BBC Vision channels, now is the right time for me to take on this exciting new challenge. The chance to join an iconic broadcaster such as Channel 4 as it embarks on the next chapter was an opportunity too good to miss."

As Controller of Channel Management, Dixon will be responsible for constructing the overall shape of the schedules for the Channel 4 portfolio, from co-ordinating the long term programme strategy to building the current schedule for transmission. In conjunction with the Head of Acquisitions he will lead and develop a strategy for acquired programming across Channel 4 platforms.

The role unites scheduling activities across linear and interactive media and has responsibility for four broadcast channels (Channel 4, E4, More4 and Film4) and for helping to evolve Channel 4's digital services, including 4oD.

Dixon will report into Channel 4 Chief Creative Officer, Jay Hunt.

George Dixon has been Head of Scheduling for BBC Vision since January 2006. In this role he led a channel management team responsible for BBC ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, Daytime, HD channels and the multiplatform operation. He was personally responsible for the scheduling and commissioning strategy for BBC ONE and in this time created and implemented the strategy that turned around the channel's performance on Wednesday and Sunday. BBC ONE has now overtaken ITV1 as the most popular network in peaktime for the first time in history.

Prior to this Dixon was Head of Scheduling and Planning, BBC TWO; Daytime Scheduler, BBC ONE and TWO and Schedule Manager, BBC ONE.