Last year's position :   9

A strong showing from Dyke, moving up from ninth to third in this year's poll and passing last year's winner, media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, heading in the opposite direction.

Dyke has put technology at the core of plans to diversify the BBC's programming output as the worlds of digital TV, the internet, TV and radio and video gaming increasingly collide. In fact, many believe the future of the corporation rests on the ability of Dyke to bring those plans to fruition. He is helped in his quest by the licence fee coffers that afford the BBC the luxury of not being tied by commercial constraints. But is that money well spent? The panel certainly thought so.

Panellist Kate Bulkley, broadcaster and journalist, said: "Because it's not publicly traded and, funded by the licence fee, the BBC has got all this money, time and space to make all these innovations."

Tougher questions are likely to be asked by the government, which began its own review of the BBC's online activities this summer to assess whether the licence fee has been spent wisely and what commercial impact it has had on the market.

But providing he can survive politically and fend off any government pressure following the Hutton Inquiry, the panel feel Dyke is the man to push ahead with the BBC's innovative interactive agenda.

As one panellist said: "Don't underestimate Dyke in all this - he is the conductor."