Brrrr

As August warms up again outside, it's getting chillier at the top of the BBC. New DG Tim Davie, with 15 years as an insider, is, as predicted, looking at a leaner executive team, and doesn't need time to assess performance. 

The resignation of top techie Matthew Postgate, live on Zoom last Thursday, is yet to be formally reported. I dub this Postgate-Gate. Let's hope m'learned friends are not involved. 

There may be some circularity about his interim replacement. Matthew rose to Chief Technology Officer from R&D in 2014, after the unhappy departure of John Linwood. John won an employment tribunal after wrongly, the tribunal ruled, carrying the can for the failed £100m+ Digital Media Initiative.  Could the interim CTO be Peter O'Kane, once Programme Director for DMI ?

The shivers are also running round output structure. Should there be one Content boss, and should it be Charlotte Moore or James Purnell ? In a recent RTS interview, former Labour Cabinet minister James offered, on behalf of the BBC, to  deliver more of the country's education, post-Covid. This has not gone down well with the increasingly vocal anti-BBC wing of the Conservative Party.  

James was at Lord Hall's elbow in the last Charter and licence deal. Will he be around as Tim tries to agree a new licence fee with the Cummings administration in 2021 ?