Huggers’ promotion would come 14 months after he joined the corporation, replacing Ashley Highfield, who became Kangaroo CEO two weeks ago. He will control a 2008/09 budget of £114.4 million for BBC alone, plus FM&T’s CIO and CTO functions and R&D, as well as responsibility for other infrastructure and projects like iPlayer, totaling £400 million.

But he would also inherit a division from which radical changes are expected, after last year’s £36 million overspend. The BBC Trust ordered a new management structure by December. It blamed last year’s reshuffle - in which BBC New Media’s activities were split across three units including FM&T - for weaknesses in managerial control, so Huggers will “work alongside a (new) BBC FM&T executive charged with strengthening the divisions’ editorial strategy and development”, the story goes.

Dutchman Huggers was recruited essentially as Highfield’s deputy in May 2007. A former senior director overseeing Microsoft’s entertainment business, he promptly brought two MSFT alumni with him. With that new-look team, his latest top task was building a new video delivery network. He has taken well to the BBC’s increasing need for transparency (keeping a good blog and speaking openly at a recent conference). Highfield joined Kangaroo on July 1 after leading iPlayer through multiplatform controversy to web-based popularity; he left on a £466,00 salary, last week’s annual report showed.