It’s Your New BBC

Massive Top Job Shake-up Splits the Beeb Into Three

A big shake-up of BBC production and commissioning is to elevate director of television Jana Bennett to take control of all audio-visual content. Four new "super commissioners"will also be created, who will report to her. This and associated changes at the top will carve the BBC into three, split between journalism; vision; audio and music.

In this major BBC restructuring, Bennett takes control of a new department, BBC Vision, that will include in-house production and commissioning. The four, as-yet unnamed, "super commissioners" will report to Bennett. Their departments are  Entertainment; Children's; Fiction and Knowledge. Fiction's remit includes drama, comedy, BBC Films and acquisitions. Knowledge covers the output of the current factual and learning department.

In a huge change from the current fragmented situation, the four super commissioners will be ordering content across all platforms, effectively giving producers a single point of contact where they can take their ideas.

In a further change to support the new structure, the new commissioners will control the entire budget for their genre. At present, budget for new ideas can be drawn from different areas, with some money coming from television and some from new media.

Effectively, the shakeup splits the BBC into just three divisions: journalism (including news and current affairs and which will now include sport) - to be under head of journalism and deputy director general Mark Byford; vision; and audio and music, which will be headed up by Jenny Abramsky, current director of radio and music.

Each of the three divisions will have a future media and technology controller, to ensure there is coherence in what the BBC is offering across all platforms. They will not have commissioning power and will report in to Ashley Highfield, who will head up a new future media and technology division.

These changes will see the end of Alan Yentob's role as director of drama, entertainment and children's. He will concentrate on his role as creative director, and presenter of the Imagine arts strand.

BBC director of policy, strategy, legal and distribution Caroline Thomson, is to take over as chief operating officer of BBC Worldwide, a role currently filled by Worldwide's chief executive John Smith.

The BBC says the changes would not result in any further job cuts, and would take effect from Apr 2007.