Britain's commercial Channel 4 television's boss Mark Thompson was appointed the director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC announced Friday.

At the same time, he resigned from his position as chief executive of Channel 4, said the BBC.

He thus replaced Greg Dyke, who left in the wake of the Hutton report which judged in late January that the BBC report claiming the Downing Street had "sexed up" its evidence for war with Iraq was "unfounded."

The director general was chosen unanimously by the board of BBC governors, led by chairman Michael Grade, according to a BBC report.

Thompson, aged 46, had worked at the BBC for 20 years, eventually becoming director of BBC television, before leaving to take up the chief executive role at Channel 4 in 2001.

Source: Xinhua