MUMBAI: The UK pubcaster BBC has announced that following BBC Vision?s announcement to maximise on-screen spend by creating a single integrated business function across Production and Commissioning, Commercial Director Bal Samra has announced three new controllers of business for Drama, Film and Acquisitions; Comedy and Entertainment; Knowledge and Daytime, and the Controller of Legal and Business Affairs.

Samra said, "By creating one single operational spine for each of the genre groups and a more strategically focussed, smaller central team, we will reduce duplication and minimise internal transaction costs. I want to create a more effective business model that works today and is fit for the future, which supports commissioners and producers alike and which delivers to our ultimate aim of putting as much money back into content as possible.

"Through these appointments, together with the changes in the way we work, the savings will enable us to deliver the additional investment announced earlier in the year of at least ?27m for 2013/14."

The Controllers of Business will be responsible for all the key business functions within their genre. Drawing together slate management, business affairs, commercial, talent rights and production management, they will work alongside the editorial Commissioning and Production Genre Controllers, aiming to improve collaboration and driving best value from the in-house guarantee and provide a better service to indie suppliers too. These are significant roles and critical to the success of the Vision Change plan.

The four appointments are:

Nick Betts - Controller of Business, Drama, Films and Acquisitions. He is currently BBC Vision head of commercial and business development.

Lisa Opie is Controller of Business, Knowledge and Daytime. She is currently Twofour Digital MD, where she leads a team of content producers, web developers and account directors across centres in the UK and the USA. She has also held the position of Director of Branded Business for the Twofour Group.

Tamara Howe is. Controller of Business, Comedy and Entertainment. She is currently BBC Vision Controller Production Operations and, alongside Liam Keelan, has been leading the Vision Change programme. Prior to joining Vision, she was BBC Children?s COO and was responsible for overseeing the department?s move to MediaCityUK.

Roger Leatham is controller of Legal and Business AffairsIn this new pan-BBC role, he will be responsible for leading the engagement with the BBC?s rights partners and talent unions and be accountable for legal and business affairs standards across Rights & Business Affairs. Currently the Head of Talent and Rights Negotiation, he has worked across all the output divisions of the BBC, as well as BBC America.

MUMBAI: BBC DG George Entwistle has said that he would put outstanding, world class creativity at the heart of the BBC.

Unveiling his plans to staff after taking over as DG from Mark Thompson he asked everyone in the BBC to challenge themselves to deliver more creative and distinctive output for licence fee payers.

And he announced a series of management changes to turn the BBC into "a more creative organisation, led and managed in a radically simplified way".

"I intend to change the way we?re led to put the emphasis where it belongs - on creative people doing creative things; on our audiences and the exceptional quality of work they deserve," he told staff across the BBC.

Speaking from the studio in New Broadcasting House where Newsnight and the Andrew Marr Show recently began broadcasting, the new Director-General said he was privileged to have been asked to lead the finest broadcasting organisation in the world.

Citing the London 2012 Olympics as an example of how good the BBC can be when everyone pulls together to deliver outstanding coverage, he asked staff to use this as a template for all their work.

But he challenged the BBC to meet the audience?s ever-increasing expectations.

"Though our best is often brilliant - in some of our output, we do settle for less than we should. So I believe we owe our audiences a determined effort to raise the creative quality of what we do."

Speaking to staff in the studio and on the BBC?s internal video channel, he added, "I want to make a promise - to listen to you and to work tirelessly on fixing the things that get in the way of high creative quality, making the BBC a place where you really can do your best, and deliver the best of British creativity to our audiences."

Announcing plans to reduce the management board from 25 to just 12, Entwistle also announced the closure of the Operations division.

"With immediate effect, I?m reorganising the BBC to group all the operational and finance functions in one business division under the Chief Financial Officer."

Entwistle said his focus on creativity could not be in isolation of the BBC?s financial challenges, but savings could not just be imposed from the centre. Instead, front-line content makers also needed to be responsible for cost savings - incentivised by allowing them to reinvest some of the savings in better funded output.

The new management board of 12 replaces 25-strong BBC Direction Group. The finance and operations divisions reorganised, with immediate effect. Our operational and finance functions will be brought together in a new Finance and Business Division under the Chief Financial Officer.

MUMBAI: Delivering a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Elisabeth Murdoch made a push for the media industry to embrace morality, while stressing that profit without purpose would be a recipe for disaster.

This contradicted her brother James Murdoch?s stand three years ago who at the same event had said that profit was the only guarantee of independence. "James was right that if you remove profit, then independence is massively challenged but I think that he left something out: The reason his statement sat so uncomfortably is that profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster," said Elisabeth Murdoch.

?As an industry?and indeed I would say as a global society?we have become trapped in our own rhetoric. We need to learn how to be comfortable with articulating purpose and reject the idea that money is the only effective measure of all things or that the free market is the only sorting mechanism.?

She also unlike her brother supported the BBC. James Murdoch had taken aim at the UK pubcaster for its guaranteed and growing income from the license fee paid by UK TV owners. But Elisabeth Murdoch said, "Let me put it on record that I am a current supporter of the BBC?s universal license fee".

Addressing the phone hacking issue which led to the closure of News Of the World, she said that she had told James to step back and that Rebekah Brooks should resign. "It was said within closed walls and Rebekah did resign."

?News Corp is a company that is currently asking itself some very significant and difficult questions about how some behaviours fell so far short of its values. Personally, I believe one of the biggest lessons of the past year has been the need for any organisation to discuss, affirm and institutionalise a rigorous set of values based on an explicit statement of purpose.?

She also said that she does not want to succeed her father at the company.

MUMBAI: Bloomberg TV India, the English business news channel, is launching a new show titled ?The Outsider?. The show is being hosted by Tim Sebastian, the first presenter of BBC?s HARDtalk.

?The Outsider? is a debate series, in association with Sobo Films, starting 25 August. It will air every Saturday at 8 pm. The episode will repeat telecast on Sunday at 11 am and 9 pm and Wednesday at 10.30 pm.

According to the company statement, ?The Outsider? will see how the politicians fared against the incisive, incessant and blunt questions fielded by Tim Sebastian and the astounding result of the audiences? vote for the two polls conducted during the debate.

The launch episode will see politicians debating on ?Politics Should No Longer Be A Family Business?. Communist Party of India (Marxist)?s Sitaram Yechury and BJP?s Sudheendra Kulkarni of BJP will debate in favour of the motion and Congress? Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Biju Janata Dal?s Kalikesh Singh Deo will debate against the motion.

Tim Sebastian will kick-off the debate asking each panelist for their top three points in favour/against the motion and proceeds to state facts that go dead against their arguments and has the panel defending their statements. Two polls will be conducted amongst the studio audience. One on the trust or faith that they have in today?s politicians and the other on the audiences? vote for the motion.

MUMBAI: BBC has cut down expenses and central bookings by 4 per cent in the fiscal-fourth quarter, with particular savings on hotels, taxis and hospitality.

This is down 11 per cent since it first started publishing in 2009.

BBC published details of the expenses, central bookings and gifts and hospitality for the fourth quarter ended March 2012, and the salaries as of June 2012, of most of its senior managers.

This publication is part of the pubcaster?s continued commitment to provide more transparency in how it is spending the License Fee and is the 12th expenses isclosure.

A BBC spokesperson said, "Expenses have fallen 4 percent this quarter and remain within a range proportionate to running a media organisation of this size. We continue to be mindful of how we spend public money and to drive down costs wherever possible."