Just in: BBC abolishes controllers
mainIn a belated bid to cull his top-heavy management team, Tony Hall has scrapped the roles of BBC1 and BBC2 controller, as well as head of BBC4.
Charlotte Moore, presently in charge of BBC1, will run all three channels, as well as I-Player content.
BBC2 chief Kim Shillinglaw, who lost out on the top job, will leave the BBC.
Absurdly, the BBC still maintains an extra role of (acting) director of television.
Our W1A swingdoor correspondent adds: Remember, they’ve also saved Danny Cohen as “Director of TV” and Yentob as “Creative Director” salaries. But this is also in line with their worrying strategy about seeing BBC as less ‘channel’ driven and more a producer of ‘content’ which they’ll curate online… hence the very worrying threat of the closure of the BBC News Channel.
So – let’s keep those with diamond played pensions. What is a controller anyway and does anyone really care?
David Attenborough became the controller of BBC Two in March 1965. In 1969 Attenborough was promoted to director of programmes, making him responsible for the output of both BBC channels.
So there has been at least one controller that I care about.
But in those days – remember Hugh Carleton-Greene? – people were appointed to top positions in the BBC who had creative flair and a willingness to experiment. These days they are all over-cautious, politically correct and constantly looking over their shoulders to make sure they don’t get knifed in the back. Not a very appealing media organisation to work for, and Tony Hall (no relation) hasn’t really changed that.