City veteran Ian Cheshire chosen to be new chair of Ofcom

Former Channel 4 chair and boss of Kingfisher to be appointed at crucial time for UK’s media regulator The government has named the City veteran Ian Cheshire as its preferred choice to chair the media regulator Ofcom. Cheshire will be formally appointed to the role for a four-year term once he has been approved in a parliamentary hearing. He was formerly the boss of the B&Q owner, Kingfisher, and served as the chair of Channel 4 until last year. The appointment made on Wednesday comes at a critical moment for Ofcom amid concern over the rapid growth of online content and the rise of more politically partisan broadcasting. The regulator oversees the Online Safety Act, the legislation that regulates all social media in the UK. Cheshire said in a statement that across his career in e-commerce, telecoms and broadcasting he had “seen first-hand how much effective regulation matters – for consumers, for businesses and for the wider economy”. He said: “Ofcom has a critical job to do at a time of rapid change in how people communicate, access information and stay safe online. I look forward to setting out my vision for how Ofcom can meet those challenges when I appear before the select com