Tim Davie Appointed BBC Director General

Jake Kanter has tweeted that the interview process to find a new Director General has finished and an announcement may be imminent.

The two leading contenders are said to be Charlotte Moore, Director of Content, and Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Studios.

External candidates were said to be Will Lewis former CEO of the Wall Street Journal and Doug Gurr of Amazon UK. Jay Hunt doesn't seem to have made the short list.

Fevered TV biz gossip tonight that the new BBC DG will be announced imminently, with interviews said to be complete.

Speculation remains focused on Tim Davie, but sources not 100%. Talk also of a promotion for Charlotte Moore, but not all convinced she'd settle for second best.

— Jake Kanter (@Jake_Kanter) June 4, 2020

https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/charlotte-moore

https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/whoweare/tim-davie

Lets see how this will turn out.

Tim Davie ..

Tim Davie appointed new BBC Director-General: https://t.co/REmZnIyg0u pic.twitter.com/zFYzoY9Qbx

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) June 5, 2020

Indeed.

Tim Davie: BBC executive named director general https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52933648

It's a heck of an in-tray as well..
Over 70's licence fee..
The dwindling licence fee budget to spend..
BBC Text..
BBC Three or BBC Four..
BBC News restructuring and layoffs..
The current Governement..

Will be interested to see how this turns out. I thought Tony Hall did a fairly good job - certainly given the mess the corporation after Entwistle's resignation. He's not get everything right (and certainly BBC News has lost some of its reputation in recent years) but to survive 7 years he did something right.

The main thing I know about Davie was a dreadful interview he did with Sky after Entwhistle had resigned where he walked out mid-interview.

It will be interesting to see what appointments Tim Davie makes as he has no creative or editorial experience and will need close counsel he can rely on. He will also have to deal with a new BBC Chairman when David Clementi steps down next year.

Obviously disappointing for Charlotte Moore, who may inevitably look at her options.

I could see Charlotte Moore going for Tim Davie’s old job at BBC Studios.

What a surprise. Another white man in a suit.

Broadcasting is still very much an old white boys’ club.

A perspective from someone who used to work for the BBC and is often a frequent critic of the corporation for its insularity:

Just made a big mistake on @BBCNews which I regret. I said Tim Davie was privately educated at Whitgift. True - but he won a scholarship, and was the first in his family to go to university. Given how much of my life is spent working on social mobility, that's unforgivable. Sorry

— Amol Rajan (@amolrajan) June 5, 2020