Tim Davie to replace Tony Hall as BBC Director General

Davie, who is currently the chief executive of BBC Studios, will be at the helm of the British public corporation from September 1.

Tim Davie, current CEO of BBC Studios, will replace Tony Hall as Director General of the BBC. Davie said he was honoured to take on this responsibility at the British public corporation at a "critical time for the UK".

"Our mission has never been more relevant, important or necessary. I have a deep commitment to content of the highest quality and impartiality," he said.

"Looking ahead, we will need to accelerate change to serve all of our audiences in this rapidly evolving world. A great deal of work has been done, but we will continue to reform, make clear decisions and stay relevant. I am very confident that we can do it thanks to the incredible teams of people who work at the BBC," he added.

BBC Studios is the commercial arm of the corporation and the company in charge of marketing its own productions worldwide. Tim Davie took the reins of BBC Studios in 2012 after the resignation of George Entwhistle after the controversy that arose in the program Newsnight as a result of child abuse that wrongly implicated a conservative colleague.

Davie se joined BBC in 2005 and has worked in the marketing and audio divisions. Prior to that, he worked for PepsiCo and Procter and Gamble. He was previously a Conservative Party councillor in Hammersmith in 1993 and 1994 and Conservative Party vice-chairman of Hammersmith and Fulham in the 1990s.

Davie's annual salary has been set by the BBC Council's Remuneration Committee at £525,000 (€591,000) without any variable components. The CEO's salary has not increased since 2012, and this is the level that the salary would have reached if inflation had been applied. Davie has opted to receive the same salary as Tony Hall (£450,000) until August 2021, as all senior managers at the BBC are currently in the midst of a pay freeze. As CEO at BBC Studios, Davie received £600,000 last year, including bonuses.

The election of the new director has been coordinated by the Nomination Committee of the Board of Directors of the British corporation under the leadership of its chairman David Clementi, together with Dame Elan Closs Stephens, Nicholas Serota and Ashley Steel.