Video: Who will be the next BBC director general? Mr Midgley said that he though it would be unlikely that Tim Davie the current acting BBC director general or Caroline Thomson, the former BBC chief operating officer would ultimately get the role due to being seen as BBC insiders. Ed Richards the Chief Executive of Ofcom is also seen as possible choice, but suffers from a lack of programme-making experience. He said ITV's Director of Television Peter Fincham "would be a good choice to lead the BBC creatively but does not have a journalistic background." Other possible candidates are Channel 4 Chief Executive, David Abraham, Head of Sky News John Ryley and Sophie Turner Laing, Sky's Managing Director of entertainment and news.