RTE controller quits for BBC Worldwide commissioning role

George Dixon has quit Irish public broadcaster RTE to take a commissioning role at BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster.

At Worldwide Dixon will be global editorial director, filling a role vacated by Liam Keelan after he stepped into Caroline Torrance’s role running scripted programming when she left for Zodiak Media.

At RTE Dixon was in charge of the pubcaster’s flagship RTE One channel. At Worldwide he will oversee development and commissioning for the company’s three new channel brands BBC Earth, BBC First and BBC Brit. The first original commission for Brit was announced this week.

Dixon will also head up the channels’ acquisitions team. He will report to BBC Worldwide’s chief content officer, Helen Jackson. She said: “With an outstanding track record across BBC public service, commercial and pay TV broadcasting [Dixon] will lead the editorial vision for our new channel brands BBC First, BBC Earth and BBC Brit and ensure we harness real ambition and creative flair in the content choices we make.”

Dixon added: “Joining BBC Worldwide at such an exciting time was an opportunity that was impossible to turn down. I’ve always been passionate about the unrivalled creativity in which the BBC invests and this is a great moment to build our brands beyond the UK.”