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So Channel 4 finally confirmed that its chief executive Andy Duncan is to step down at the end of the year. After grappling for months with C4's funding hole, Duncan looks set to leave along with chairman, Luke Johnson, at Christmas.

The search is on for a replacement. But many in television reckon that all bets should be off as Peter Fincham, ITV's director of television, is such a red hot favourite. The sort of respected programmer C4, whatever it looks like in the future, should have at its helm.

Fincham's supporters suggest that this becomes even more likely should Tony Ball arrive at ITV as chief executive. The former Sky man's no-nonsense approach may be what ITV needs but might not sit well with Fincham's creative ethos.

So Fincham for C4 by the end of the year then. But whatever happens it is time for change at two of Britain's top TV companies. Duncan's resignation to the C4 board coincided with an inauspicious week for ITV which has lost both the real and the PR battle over CRR. Michael Grade staked a great deal on its removal and must be disappointed at the Competition Commission's decision to keep it in place. You have to sympathise with Grade at having to manage ITV through such as vicious downturn and, to a degree, he has made strides in restoring its reputation for strong content but he knew it was time to move on.

Meanwhile Duncan and his C4 team have seemed lost in a maze, running first this way and that in a bid to find a way out but becoming increasingly lost.

Both ITV and C4 sorely need new leadership and soon.