Tony Hall appointed new BBC director-general

Tony Hall, the head of Britain's Royal Opera House, has been appointed the BBC's new director-general.

The corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust, announced this morning that Hall would take the position from March 2013.

He replaces George Entwistle, who resigned 12 days ago amid a scandal over allegations of child sex abuse. He spent less than two months on the job.

"Tony Hall is the right person to lead the BBC out of its current crisis and help rebuild public trust in the organisation," BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten, wrote in an email to staff.

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Hall already has 28 years of experience at the BBC, where he started as a news trainee and worked up to a five-year stint as head of news and current affairs, during which he successfully launched several new digital and radio services.

He also applied for the director-general's job in 1999, but didn't get it.

He left to become chief executive of the Royal Opera House in 2001, where he has been much praised for bringing both creativity and financial stability to the institution, according to the Telegraph.

Hall's appointment has been roundly hailed by the British press – to the point where the Guardian said he was "suddenly […] the man everybody wanted all along."

He faces some of the biggest challenges any director-general has ever had to deal with, as the BBC answers multiple inquiries into its handling of abuse allegations against late presenter Jimmy Savile, the decision not to broadcast an investigation into them, and another program that was aired which falsely implicated a politician in child abuse.

Tim Davie, the BBC's acting director-general since Entwistle quit, will continue to fill in until March.