As director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Greg Dyke heads one of Britain's best known institutions and largest employers and is custodian of the nation's most important cultural body. In April 2000, Dyke was named to succeed Sir John Birt at the BBC, which after that time had an annual income of $4.5 billion and a staff of $23,000. Clearly, the BBC governors chose Dyke because he had previously proven himself to be a genius in supplying popular, widely watched television for independent companies. Dyke had been one of the most popular leaders among the British independent television companies, having headed TV-AM, Television South, and London Weekend Television (LWT). His 1995 departure from Network television to become head of the television interests of the Pearson Group and member of the board of the satellite-delivered television group British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) signaled a shift of his considerable influence from mainstream television to the new multichannel systems. In 2000, his friend Sir Christopher Bland, who had been promoted from chairman of LWT to chairman of the BBC’s board of governors, called Dyke back to the mainstream in order to boost BBC ratings. Bland had said of Dyke, “Television is a mass medium and Greg understands that. You have to have a mass audience if you are going to succeed.”

Dyke’s success in the industry has proved that it is no longer necessary for top British television people to come from “Oxbridge” (Oxford and Cambridge Universities) and start their career with the BBC. Unlike most BBC executives, Dyke had a very career after leaving grammar school at age 16: he worked for various local papers and gained a politics degree at York University as a mature student.

Dyke’s television career began when he joined The London Program in the 1970s, and he rapidly Rose to become producer of Weekend World and deputy editor of The London Program. In 1981, he was given command of his own creation The Six O’clock Show, an energetic magazine program. Dyke proved to his production teams that he was an inspirational manager and able administrator.

Dyke’s greatest success in the early chapters of his television career came when he, almost single-handedly, saved TV-AM. The 1981 franchised breakfast company was heading for bankruptcy when Dyke was called in to bring back its audience. Dyke took the ailing breakfast show “down-markey,” signaling this move with the introduction of bingo numbers, horoscopes, and a clueless puppet called Roland Rat. Viewership rose from 200,000 to 1.8 million in 12 months, and  the eventual gain was 20-fold. Better ratings were regarded as more important than cultural qualities.

Dyke eventually resigned from TV-AM because of a conflict over budget cuts, and he was quickly hired by Television South as director of programs; from that appointment, he returned to LWT as director of programs and then chief executive. Perhaps his most significant promotion was to replace his good friend and former colleague Brit on the ITV Program Controllers’ group. When Dyke rose to become chair of that vital group, he effectively orchestrated the ITV company's schedule against the BBC. 

By 1993, Dyke was chief executive of London Weekend Television Holdings, chair of the ITV Association, and a chair of ITV Sport. Under his command, LWT flourished as never before, with excellent programs such as Blind Date and Beadle’s About. But successful companies always risk the danger of being taken over unless they are protected by government regulation, as was the case for ITV companies. When the Conservatives abolished these restrictions in 1993, LWT was at risk. Granada swallowed LTV for $900 million in 1994, and Dyke resigned rather than working under Granada control. WIth $1.75 million in stock options, Dyke made a $12 million profit from the Granada bid.

Dyke is perhaps the outstanding ITV “baby boomer”: generous, perennially optimistic, and very widely experienced. His friends say that he is motivated and street wise and understands popular TV. His critics suggest that he is a lightweight, with a tendency to speak out quickly, an impression that is fostered by his blue-collar London accent and approachable personality. Certainly his impact on ITV was considerable. His move to Pearson and BSkyB Illustrated clearly that the traditional ratings war between ITV and the BBC is no longer the only competition in the British television market.As head of the largest terrestrial broadcaster in the United Kingdom, the BBC, he must protect its share of the market from both ITV and cable and satellite programming.

Dyke’s first two years with the BBC yielded mixed results; among the low points, he lost the Match of the Day Premiership Football highlights to commercial interests in 2001. Dyke has been faced with correcting the overly bureaucratic approach to management promoted by the previous director general, his ex-LWT colleague Birt. Dyke’s plans for “One BBC” included reducing the amount of money spent on running the BBC from 24 to 15 percent of its total income, freeing up an additional $300 million for programming. He described this scheme as “more leadership, less management… our aim is to create one BBC, where people enjoy their job and are inspired and united behind the common purpose of making great programs and delivering outstanding services.” The key change under this plan has been the creation of three programming divisions: Drama, Entertainment, and Children; Factual and Learning; and Sport. Each programming division reports directly to the director general and has a seat on the new executive committee.