BBC Restructures for Digital Age

LONDON, July 19: The BBC, as part of its Creative Future
initiative to ensure that British viewers can receive its programming on
multiplatform devices, has announced an organizational restructure that
includes placing director of television, Jana Bennett, in charge of a new
content division, BBC Vision.

The changes unveiled today by Director-General Mark Thompson
are expected to be fully in place by next April. They are intended to enable
multiplatform, “360-degree” commissioning and production. "We need a BBC
ready for digital and for 360 degree multiplatform content creation, which
brings different kinds of creativity together—in technology as well as
content—to deliver what we need in this converging world,” Thompson said.
"And we need a simpler, more open BBC with the license-fee flowing down
simple, direct lines to the right people, a simpler structure, clearer
responsibilities and fewer layers."

BBC Vision under Bennett will encompass BBC Television,
Factual & Learning and Drama, Entertainment and Children's. This group will
be responsible for in-house multimedia production, commissioning and
audio-visual services, including the TV channel portfolio and digital services.
Commissioning will be grouped under four controllers: Fiction (drama, comedy,
BBC Film and program acquisitions), Entertainment, Knowledge (including all
Factual and Learning) and Children's.

In addition, a new Future Media and Technology division
(FM&T), led by Ashley Highfield, will concentrate on emerging technologies.
New FM&T controllers will be based in the three main content areas:
Journalism, BBC Vision and Audio and Music. FM&T will manage all new media
platforms and gateways like bbc.co.uk, the emerging i-player and web 2.0, as
well as metadata, search and navigation and BBC Information & Archives.

The Journalism group, led by Deputy Director-General Mark
Byford, will now also include BBC Sport along with BBC News, Global News and
Nations & Regions.

Alan Yentob, Creative Director for the BBC, will ensure that
the Creative Future recommendations are implemented across all content and
services.

The CEO of BBC Worldwide, John Smith, will concentrate on
his plan to triple profits, and to lead the sale of BBC Resources in 2007. Over
the next six months Smith will give up all responsibilities to the public-service
side of the BBC.

Caroline Thomson, currently director of strategy, becomes
COO for the BBC, with overall responsibility for strategy, policy,
distribution, property, legal and business continuity, in a new BBC Operations
division.