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Michael Grade, ITV’s principal impresario, disclosed yesterday that he will go part-time at the year end, triggering a competition to appoint a chief executive with almost as many candidates as the auditions for Britain’s Got Talent . Stepping aside a year earlier than planned, Mr Grade’s move comes amid investor disquiet over the broadcaster’s worsening financial position in the face of what is expected to be a near15 per cent fall in television advertising this year. ITV spoke to shareholders about raising cash in a rescue rights issue after it unveiled a £2.7 billion loss for 2008. Although it concluded that the cash was notnecessary, insteadraising £58 million in bonds and unveiling plans to sell Freeview frequencies valued at £200 million, Mr Grade, 66, decided that it was time to give up as executive chairman. Writing to staff, Mr Grade, who earned £934,000 last year, said that “it is clear to me that this is the right moment for me to be thinking about handing over to my successor” at a time when the next few months were critical to the future of ITV. He plans to step down before the year end, after completion of a series of regulatory reviews, including the Digital Britain review of all communications policy. There is no clear successor, although there are two internal candidates: John Cresswell, chief operating officer, and Rupert Howell, who runs the sales-force. Other in-house possibilities include Peter Fincham, who runs ITV’s channels, and Carolyn Fairbairn, the director of strategy. Peter Bazalgette, former chief creative officer of Endemol, said that the problem with bringing in an outsider was working with the person who had done the job before, making it harder to get through a change of strategy. Roger Parry, who tried to organise a bid for ITV, said that he wanted to split the company, dividing production from its channels, but he doubted that Mr Grade would support that. ITV is yet to hire headhunters but with Mr Grade staying in the company, it is unlikely that he will consider Greg Dyke, the former BBC Director-General, because the two men are in dispute over an article Mr Dyke wrote in The Times. Dawn Airey, who left to run Five, angering Mr Grade, is also felt to have little chance. Many external figures were named, with Stephen Carter, Lord Carter of Barnes, the Communications Minister, much cited. His problem is that he is still finalising the Digital Britain review for early summer. Although he is reluctant to be linked to the vacancy, there is no formal bar to a minister moving into the private sector – as long as the Government’s advisory body on business appointments approves. Other names include John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, whose profits are likely to exceed ITV’s this year, Michael Jackson, the former Channel 4 boss who went to the US and is now an adviser to Barry Diller, the Media mogul who runs IAC, a website group, and Malcolm Wall, who left Virgin Media after an unsuccessful attempt to buy ITV. David Elstein, former chief executive of Five, said any new chief executive must take action on borrowings. “It’s a financial engineering job,” he said. “Profits could drop to £100 million, while debts could reach £700 million, a lot to support on that income.” ITV is hoping that by ensuring that Mr Grade is staying on, it can avoid the crisis that hit the broadcaster when Charles Allen, his predessor, left, and the company wa