BBC Reorganizes TV Division Without Controllers

The BBC has restructured its television division in an effort to bring a new approach to commissioning, designed to reflect changing audience behavior, fuel the growth of BBC iPlayer and strengthen its content portfolio.

Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore introduced the new structure, designed to ensure the BBC continues to reach and deliver value to all audiences, no matter how, when or where they choose to access the BBC. “The new structure I’m announcing today will mean a radical change in the way we commission content so that the BBC delivers more value to all audiences. BBC iPlayer will be at the very heart of our offer, but our channels are what set us apart and will continue to be critical to our success. We must feel indispensable to audiences across the U.K., and these changes will help us to commission the most creative and ambitious programs—reinforcing the BBC’s position as the world’s greatest broadcaster and the most dynamic partner for talent.”

The existing genre controllers move into director roles with increased accountability for audience performance and the creative pipeline across the BBC’s services. A new portfolio director of BBC iPlayer and channels will bring together all of the programming and curation activity across BBC iPlayer and the channels.

Three new roles have been created working to the portfolio director: a new leadership role for iPlayer, and two portfolio editors, working across BBC One and BBC Two and Four.

Patrick Holland will assume the role of director of factual, and Shane Allen (comedy), Rose Garnett (film), Kate Phillips (entertainment) and Piers Wenger (drama) will all become directors of their respective genres. Dan McGolpin will move into the newly created portfolio role as director of BBC iPlayer and channels. All six directors will report to Moore.

BBC Three remains unchanged, with Fiona Campbell as controller, who will retain a commissioning remit and report to the director of BBC iPlayer and channels in this new structure. The head of portfolio scheduling, channel editor of daytime and early-peak and head of program acquisition are all part the new portfolio team.

These changes will see the closure of existing channel controller roles for BBC One, BBC Two and the BBC Four editor post. The current interim channel structure will continue to be in place until the new roles are appointed and the new model introduced in April 2021.