8. Ed Richards
Richards: aiming to work with the BBC Trust to find 'appropriate solutions' to the problems of viewer trust in British TV
Job: chief executive, OfcomAge: 41Industry: regulationStaff: 776Salary: £308,930 (including bonus, benefits and pension payments)2006 ranking: 77
Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards faces a critical few months which will test not just his own ability but the effectiveness or otherwise of the three and a half-year-old regulator.
Ofcom's recent interventions read like a list of the industry's biggest stories of the year so far - the Celebrity Big Brother race row, the premium-rate call-TV scandal, and BskyB's purchase of a 17.9% share in ITV.
The Big Brother controversy ended with a landmark ruling from the regulator saying that Channel 4 had made "serious editorial misjudgments" that were "compounded by a serious failure of the compliance process".
Critics claimed Ofcom had made errors of its own by failing to react quickly enough to either the Big Brother row or the TV phone-in scandal, which began with Channel 4's Richard & Judy and spread to other broadcasters like a virus.
Ofcom is looking into Sky's purchase of a stake in ITV as well as the satellite broadcaster's pay-TV plans for Freeview, and has opened more than 20 investigations into irregularities on premium-rate phone-ins and interactive services.
"The next few months are going to be absolutely crucial for Ed Richards," said one of our panellists.
"He has more to say about the shape of the media landscape over the next 12 months than almost anyone else on this list, but I fear he is going to be weak rather than directional."
Also in Richards' in-tray: what to do with analogue spectrum; the future funding of Channel 4; sharp practice in the cut-throat broadband market; the future regulation of commercial radio; the provision of public service content in the digital age; TV product placement; HDTV. The list goes on. And on.
Ofcom's recent interventions read like a list of the industry's biggest stories of the year so far - the Celebrity Big Brother race row, the premium-rate call-TV scandal, and BskyB's purchase of a 17.9% share in ITV.
The Big Brother controversy ended with a landmark ruling from the regulator saying that Channel 4 had made "serious editorial misjudgments" that were "compounded by a serious failure of the compliance process".
Critics claimed Ofcom had made errors of its own by failing to react quickly enough to either the Big Brother row or the TV phone-in scandal, which began with Channel 4's Richard & Judy and spread to other broadcasters like a virus.
Ofcom is looking into Sky's purchase of a stake in ITV as well as the satellite broadcaster's pay-TV plans for Freeview, and has opened more than 20 investigations into irregularities on premium-rate phone-ins and interactive services.
"The next few months are going to be absolutely crucial for Ed Richards," said one of our panellists.
"He has more to say about the shape of the media landscape over the next 12 months than almost anyone else on this list, but I fear he is going to be weak rather than directional."
Also in Richards' in-tray: what to do with analogue spectrum; the future funding of Channel 4; sharp practice in the cut-throat broadband market; the future regulation of commercial radio; the provision of public service content in the digital age; TV product placement; HDTV. The list goes on. And on.
Previously the regulator's number two, Richards succeeded Stephen Carter in the top job in October last year.
The new regime made its first significant decision last year when it banned junk food advertising around children's TV programmes.
A quintessential New Labour man - Greg Dyke famously referred to him as a "jumped-up Millbank oik" - Richards has worked for both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Criticised for being too close to the government and the BBC - where he worked for Lord Birt as its controller of corporate strategy - Richards dismissed accusations of New Labour cronyism as "tittle tattle".
Richards is one of this year's biggest risers, up nearly 70 places to number eight. He was lower last year because he had not yet been appointed to replace Carter as head of Ofcom.
Carter, a one-time candidate to be chief executive of ITV, is now chief executive of City PR firm Brunswick.
The new regime made its first significant decision last year when it banned junk food advertising around children's TV programmes.
A quintessential New Labour man - Greg Dyke famously referred to him as a "jumped-up Millbank oik" - Richards has worked for both Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Criticised for being too close to the government and the BBC - where he worked for Lord Birt as its controller of corporate strategy - Richards dismissed accusations of New Labour cronyism as "tittle tattle".
Richards is one of this year's biggest risers, up nearly 70 places to number eight. He was lower last year because he had not yet been appointed to replace Carter as head of Ofcom.
Carter, a one-time candidate to be chief executive of ITV, is now chief executive of City PR firm Brunswick.
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