BBC’s Huggers Confirmed Future Media & Technology Director
By Robert Andrews - Fri 18 Jul 2008 02:48 AM PST
As we and several others forecast back in April, BBC future media and technology (FM&T) controller Erik Huggers has just been confirmed in the director post, replacing Ashley Highfield on August 1. BBC DG Mark Thompson (via the release): “Erik has been a very strong group controller (of) FM&T for the last year. He has shown tremendous commitment championing the iPlayer amongst many other projects.” The promotion also sees Huggers appointed to the BBC’s top-level executive board.
Huggers: “It is a tremendous privilege ... I now look forward to, along with my team, collaborating with colleagues across the BBC to ensure we respond to audience demands in providing exciting and innovative new ways of delivering the BBC’s content across a range of media.”
Huggers’ promotion comes 14 months after he joined the corporation, replacing Ashley Highfield, who became CEO of the Kangaroo VOD JV on July 1. He will control a 2008/09 budget of £114.4 million for BBC.co.uk alone, but Huggers’ responsibilities encompass all internet, interactive TV, mobile, broadband and emerging platforms operations, including iPlayer, totaling around £400 million.
But he will also inherit a division from which radical changes are expected, after last year’s £36 million overspend. The BBC Trust ordered a new management structure by December. It blamed last year’s reshuffle - in which BBC New Media’s activities were split across three units including FM&T - for weaknesses in managerial control.
Dutchman Huggers was recruited essentially as Highfield’s deputy in May 2007. A former senior director overseeing Microsoft’s entertainment business, he promptly brought two MSFT alumni with him. With that new-look team, his latest top task was building a new video delivery network. He has taken well to the BBC’s increasing need for transparency (keeping a good blog and speaking openly at a recent conference). Highfield joined Kangaroo on July 1 after leading iPlayer through multiplatform controversy to web-based popularity; he left on a £466,00 salary, last week’s annual report showed.
More moves: Meanwhile, BBC HD channel head Seetha Kumar is leaving for an unspecified “senior role”, following the channel’s recent launch, and will be replaced by Danielle Nagler, the head of Thompson’s office. Release. And IBM Second Life evangelist Roo Reynolds is joining BBC Vision as social media portfolio executive.
Posted in: Companies, BBC, Industry Moves
Tags: eric huggers,
