BBC NAMES TIM DAVIE AS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL

Public UK broadcaster BBC has appointed Tim Davie as new Director General in replace of Tony Hall. His top priorities will include negotiating with the government about the future of the licence fee.

The TV licence system will stay in place until at least 2027, but the government is due to review the funding level from 2022 onwards.

Davie is one of the BBC's most senior executives and is a former chief executive of BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary that sells BBC and other British programmes abroad.

DAVIE'S TRAJECTORY

Davie is one of the corporation's longest-serving executives, joining from Pepsi to become director of the BBC's Marketing, Communications & Audiences division in 2005.

He then took over responsibility for radio stations including Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 as director of the Audio & Music division in 2008.

Soon afterwards, he had to address the outcry caused by prank calls made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross on Radio 2. The decision to shut 6 Music under his tenure, which was later reversed, also brought scrutiny.

A month after being named chief executive of the corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide in 2012, he stepped in to become acting director general after Entwistle's short-lived tenure. Entwistle had resigned after just eight weeks at the helm following a Newsnight error in a child abuse report.

Davie returned to BBC Worldwide after Lord Hall's appointment as Entwistle's permanent successor, and Davie oversaw the merger of BBC Worldwide with the BBC's production arm to form BBC Studios in 2018.

He is now to become the 17th director general in the corporation's 98-year history.