BBC Olympics chief takes Vision role

The BBC exec leading the pubcaster’s London Olympics coverage will take incoming director general George Entwistle’s former role at BBC Vision on an acting basis.

Roger Mosey

Roger Mosey, the BBC’s director of London 2012, will become acting director of the BBC’s production arm when Entwistle steps down this month in preparation for taking the top seat on September 17.

Outgoing director general Mark Thompson announced the move to BBC staff this morning, noting Mosey will start on August 20, with head of major events Dave Gordon replacing him in the Olympics role.

The process to find a full-time BBC Vision chief will begin in the autumn, he added. BBC Daytime chief Liam Keenan, Vision’s chief creative officer Pat Younge and a host of other names have been linked to the job, as C21 reported last month.

Entwistle last month beat off competition from the likes of BBC chief operating officer Caroline Thomson and Ed Richards, CEO of media regulator Ofcom, to take the DG role.

Today’s development comes as doubly good news for Mosey, who was this morning celebrating combined peak viewing figures of more than 20 million last night during the men’s 100m final, in which Jamaica’s Usain Bolt retained his Olympic gold medal.

More than 19.3 million people tuned in to the race on flagship channel BBC1, while BBC3 took an additional 628,000. BBC3 has scraped its regular schedule in favour of blanket Olympics coverage. Even the BBC’s 3D feed on BBC HD scored 66,000, according to Barb figures.