[2] On 6 December 2023, Lucy Frazer, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, put Shah forward to be the next Chairman of the BBC.

[4][5] He then obtained a doctorate (DPhil) in anthropology and geography at St Catherine's College, Oxford, in 1979 with a thesis titled "Aspects of the geographic analysis of Asian immigrants in London".

[6] Shah joined London Weekend Television in 1979,[7] where he was to work with two major figures in his career, John Birt, later director-general of the BBC, and Michael Wills, from whom he was to purchase Juniper TV,[8] both of whom became life peers.

[1] Shah has said that his decision to leave the BBC for the commercial world was influenced by a very long and expensive executives' residential course given by the London Business School which was "incredibly useful and covered proper, grown-up things"; "the importance of obvious stuff like talking to the people who work for you"; and "it is perfectly possible to make better programmes for less cost".

[12] Shah was involved in advising director-general Sir Mark Thompson over the Crowngate affair which resulted in BBC1 controller Peter Fincham resigning from the BBC.