BBC’s Director Of Television Danny Cohen To Exit
In a surprise move, the BBC has announced that Director of Television Danny Cohen is to step down from his post and exit the corporation later this year. Cohen has been serving as Director Of Television for the past two years and in that time has been responsible for all the channels under the BBC's remit including the iPlayer and commissioning across drama, comedy and factual. Prior to taking up post he served as Controller of BBC One and before that Controller of BBC Three. 
After days of rumours, ITV has confirmed the casting of Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman in their lavish eighth part drama series Victoria, which follows the early days of Queen Victoria's reign in the 19th century. Due to the casting, Coleman will be exiting Doctor Who ahead of the show's tenth season. The actress confirmed her exit on BBC Radio 1 this morning. 
The BBC has tapped industry veteran Peter Salmon to run their new production division BBC Studios, the corporation announced on Monday. He will take up post as the first Director of BBC Studios later this year. 
The BBC is to assume full financial responsibility for the cost of free TV licenses for over-75s as part of a deal agreed between the corporation and the Government. The deal calls for the shift of costs from DWP to be phased in from 2018/2019 with the BBC only taking the full financial burden for the program, which is considered a state benefit, in 2020/2021. 
The fate of BBC Three has been sealed. More than a year after the BBC announced plans to shutter BBC Three as a linear TV channel and move it online, the corporation's regulator has "provisionally approved" the proposals, whilst also imposing a number of conditions. 
The BBC's Head of Independent Drama Poly Hill has been named as the new Controller of Drama Commissioning, succeeding outgoing Controller Ben Stephenson who is set to join JJ Abrams' Bad Robot as Head of Television. 
TVWise breaks down the 2014-2015 broadcast season so far and takes a look at how many shows have made it to the UK, what the key trends are, and who is doing the most business – on both the broadcaster and distributor side of the equation.