Tony Hall, a former director of BBC news who now runs the Royal Opera House, was appointed director-general of the public broadcaster on Thursday.
He will replace George Entwistle, who resigned this month after failing to come to grips with a crisis that threw the 90-year-old organization into turmoil.
Hall's immediate task will be to rebuild confidence at the BBC, buffeted by a scandal centred on broadcaster Jimmy Savile. Savile died at 84 last year and has since been exposed as one of Britain's most prolific child abusers.
