Tony Hall, chief executive of the Royal Opera House, is to be appointed director-general of the BBC, the corporation reported today.
Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, confirmed Mr Hall's appointment.
He said his background in news "will prove invaluable as the BBC looks to rebuild both its reputation in this area and the trust of audiences".
Hall served as director of news at the BBC for a decade before taking the Royal Opera post in 2001.
He succeeds George Entwistle, who resigned on November 10 after just 54 days as director-general.
The BBC has been shaken by controversy over a decision not to run a report that one of its former stars, Jimmy Savile, was an alleged serial sexual abuser of young women. It also aired a report falsely linking a politician to child sex abuse.
