BBC Director of Television Danny Cohen is responsible for all the content on BBC One, Two, Three and Four. This week he features on Alison Feeney-Hart's Top Ten Tips feature on BBC News.
1. Watch a lot of TV
I do watch a lot of television, but I love TV and always have, so I don't find it a chore watching lots of it, it's important in my job to watch as much as possible.
You've got to know what the competition are doing, as well as what your own channels are producing, so it is important to watch a wide range of different channels and different genres. Watch television from abroad as well, so you see what the trends are, particularly in America.
I think there's great drama from America and I think there's great drama from Britain and the wonderful thing for everyone is that they don't have to choose between the two. I think it's a bit of a false debate when people talk about which is better.
2. Don't be fussy, just get a foot in the door
Don't expect your first job to be your dream job in television and I wouldn't be too fussy. It's a very competitive industry, so getting a foot in the door is the first big step, and I think showing a lot of initiative is really important.
Lots and lots of people want to work in television and lots of people want to work for the BBC so competition to get that first job is really tough. But it's a bit like a walled city - it's quite hard to get over the walls, but once you're in, if you do a good job, show initiative, work hard and are creative, you can then move around the city with relative ease.
Other opportunities will present themselves to you. That first step of getting over the wall is hard, but you've just got to keep pushing and keep climbing.
3. Quality is just as important as ratings
A number of things are important in my role. We make things spending public money, so I want as many members of the public as possible to enjoy what we make.
At the same time, we want to make incredibly high quality programmes and make sure there's a great range of things to watch.
So the amount of people watching is very important to me, but quality and a programme's freshness are just as important.
You can't always please all of the people all the time.
Not every show you do works, but I don't think anyone has ever deliberately tried to make a programme that didn't work, so you just have to support the people who make them and hope that the next one is brilliant.
Read the rest of Danny's interview on BBC News
