Beeb names website controller

Ex-HD boss gets the nod for new role...

The BBC has appointed Seetha Kumar as controller of its website, bbc.co.uk.

Kumar will lead the overall strategy and editorial development of the website and chair a bbc.co.uk board, which will include executives from across the corporation.

The new controller will also be accountable to the Beeb's independent regulator, the BBC Trust, for the performance of the website.

Kumar was previously head of BBC HD where she oversaw the launch of the UK's first free-to-air high definition channel in December last year.

Kumar has been handed the new role by recently appointed director of Future Media and Technology, Erik Huggers.

Huggers said in a statement that Kumar's proven experience in exploiting the BBC's scale to deliver major projects will help set the direction of "one of the BBC's most important services".

The BBC's controller of internet, Tony Ageh, is moving to another senior role within the BBC.