More directors anyone ?

There's a more or less clean bill of health for the various bits of BBC Distribution and (lower case) distribution in a report published today by the BBC Trust - a nice valedictory for Alix Pryde as she heads to Vodafone.

But there are some issues - the consultants completed their interviews before the new DG announced ambitions for a BBC1+1 channel, the extension of the iPlayer catch-up window from 7 to 30 days, the creation of a BBC Store for the purchase of TV programmes and various upgrades to the iPlayer to enhance personalisation. Whilst distribution costs currently stand at 6.5% of the licence fee, these can only push the figure up. The report has also clearly nudged thinking about who's really benefiting from the £6m a year (never mind start-up costs) the BBC has been giving to YouView.

And the consultants - and Trust - are unhappy with what they gingerly call the "asymmetry" of lines of reporting to Executive Board for online distribution (in their view 'directly' represented, presumably by James Purnell) and traditional distribution (in their view 'not represented' - which clearly casts unfortunate nasturtiums over the capabilities of Anne Bulford as Managing Director, Finance and Operations; this might get her hackles up). Could we see the return of a Director of Engineering, a post last seen in 1993 ?

For fans of impossible organograms, here's one in the report made by the consultants Mediatique (of Little Portland Street).