Roland "Roly" Keating (born 5 August 1961) is the current Director of Archive Content^[1] for the BBC.

He read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford.

He joined the BBC in 1983. He was a producer and director for the Arts and Music department, making programmes for Omnibus, Bookmark (1992-7) and Arena. He was a producer and later became editor of The Late Show. In 1997, he became head of programming for UKTV. In 1999, he became the BBC Controller of Digital Channels. In 2000, he also took on the responsibility of Controller of Arts Commissioning. He became the Controller of digital television station BBC Four in December 2001, masterminding its launch on 2 March 2002. In 2003, he was also joint leader of the BBC's Charter Review project for six months. He became the channel controller for BBC Two in June 2004^[2]. He was appointed temporary controller of BBC One following Peter Fincham's resignation^[3] on 5 October 2007.

He wants to see BBC Two be the first mainstream TV channel to be available on broadband. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4466556.stm.

His decision to screen the Jerry Springer Opera on 8 January 2005 forced him to remain in hiding and was given security protection. http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article14242.ece

References

1. ↑ BBC Press Office: Roly Keating appointed as Director of Archive Content
2. ↑ BBC Press Office: Roly Keating named new Controller of BBC TWO
3. ↑ BBC Press Office: Peter Fincham resigns as Controller, BBC One

External links

• BBC Biography for Roly Keating
• Changing BBC TWO's idents in February 2007