Jana Bennett's move to BBC Worldwide confirmed

Jana Bennett is moving from her job as BBC Vision director to BBC Worldwide, with responsibilities including the global rollout of the international subscription version of the iPlayer video-on-demand service, the corporation confirmed today.

Bennett will join BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, in February as president, worldwide networks and global iPlayer. MediaGuardian.co.uk revealed yesterday that an announcement about Bennett's BBC Worldwide move was imminent.

She will be responsible for the Global iPlayer, the international version of the BBC's popular UK VoD service. A pilot version is due to launch in the first half of 2011.

The Global iPlayer will be a subscription-only service, launching initially on the iPad, the BBC.com managing director, Luke Bradley-Jones, told a conference yesterday.

Bennett will also oversee BBC Worldwide's wholly-owned channels outside the US, including BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, CBeebies and BBC HD and the corporation's 50% stake in the UKTV joint venture with Virgin Media, which operates 10 networks including Dave, Gold and Watch.

She will inherit the responsibilities of Darren Childs, the BBC Worldwide Channels managing director who left earlier this year to become UKTV chief executive.

The BBC will now begin the search for a new BBC Vision director, one of the most powerful jobs in UK broadcasting. However, Bennett's successor will almost certainly be paid less than her £517,000 a year as the corporation seeks to reduce executive pay following heavy criticism.

BBC Vision is expected to remain intact, scotching speculation that the division – encompassing TV production, broadcasting and multimedia – could be broken up.

Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, said in an email to staff today that Bennett had been "an outstanding creative leader" and "a very supportive executive colleague" during eight years as director of television and then BBC Vision director.

Thompson added that she helped "reinvent Saturday night entertainment with Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who, and brought The Apprentice" to BBC1. "With BBC1 at its centre, she has delivered a portfolio strategy that successfully distinguished for our audiences the unique character of each service," he said.

"At her heart Jana is a programme-maker. Her understanding of what makes great television and what the audiences want has led to a sustained period of creative success," Thompson added.

"In her time she's picked some brilliant executives – they are a testament to her ability to spot talent, set direction, and allow people to do their best work."

Bennett, in a separate staff email, said she had been "privileged to have done the most interesting and creative job in UK media".

"BBC Vision ends the year with increased reach to our audiences, with increased share of television viewing and rising quality measures across the board," she added.

Bennett said she believed BBC Worldwide's success "contributes to a strong BBC as a global brand and an international creative force".

John Smith, the BBC Worldwide chief executive, added that Bennett's contribution to the UK success of the iPlayer, the launch of red button services, and her programming expertise, "qualify her perfectly to lead the global iPlayer".

During her tenure as director of television, and latterly as BBC Vision director, Bennett was criticised following the 2007 Crowngate affair, which led to the departure of the BBC1 controller, Peter Fincham, for showing "a lack of curiosity". She failed to grasp that Fincham had made a misleading statement about footage that wrongly purported to show the Queen "storming out" of a room.

However, during her time, the BBC's flagship channels continued to perform well, with BBC1 holding audience share better than all rivals – although BBC3 was criticised for its lightweight programming and BBC4 for only attracting small audiences.

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