BBC Online chief to get seat on the board

NEWS BBC Online is to appoint a director with a seat on the BBC board to oversee its operations. Internal and external candidates will be considered, and the successful candidate will report directly to BBC chief executive, Will Wyatt. Meanwhile, an acting head of online services, Mark Frost, has been appointed. A spokesman for BBC Online said: "It is likely that Mark will stay on to run the service from day to day and report to the director." The service is in the midst of a review of its management structure and content. The spokesman confirmed this will probably be a move to a more genre-based service. Instead of having sites built around radio or TV programmes, it will be organised around subjects. He insisted that BBC Online will not become a portal service. An ABC audit of Web sites released yesterday reveals over 34 million hits for BBC Online - up 64 per cent from March.