John Whittingdale appointed as culture secretary

David Cameron has appointed John Whittingdale as culture secretary - bringing an influential eurosceptic into the cabinet, and signalling that funding and governance of the BBC will be the key issue for media policy.

Mr Whittingdale chaired the select committee for culture, media and sports for a decade until earlier this year, overseeing detailed inquiries into phone-hacking at the News of the World newspaper and the future of the BBC.

The vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs, he is seen as less hostile to the BBC than some other rightwingers, who complain that the public broadcaster is bloated and biased.

Although Mr Whittingdale recently remarked that the BBC's licence fee was "worse than a poll tax" because it does not exempt poor households, he has also said that there was "no realistic alternative" for the next decade.

"We've suddenly got a secretary of state for culture, media and sport who knows something about it," said one senior broadcasting figure. He contrasted Mr Whittingdale to previous ministers who were "passing through" Whitehall's smallest department.

The culture department proved a banana skin for Mr Whittingdale's predecessor-but-one, Maria Miller, due to arguments over press regulation and the delayed rollout of rural broadband. Some observers expected it to be abolished altogether.

Mr Whittingdale, 55, will now take charge of negotiations with the BBC over the renewal of its Royal Charter, which expires in 2017.

Before 2010, he enjoyed a close relationship with the broadcaster's then chief antagonist, BSkyB - receiving a £3,000 donation from the satellite TV company for his local cricket team in his Essex constituency.

However, he subsequently ordered Rupert Murdoch and his son James to give evidence to MPs about phone hacking.

In February, he suggested that the BBC's licence fee should be extended to cover all households, whether or not they watch live TV. Non-payment of the tax - currently £145.50 a year - should not be a criminal offence, he added.

Claire Enders, a media analyst, said Mr Whittingdale was "well-informed, thoughtful [and] principled".

In their manifesto, the Conservatives did not signal how the BBC licence fee - which delivers £3.7bn in annual funding - would change after its expected renewal in 2017. It did say that the fee would continue to be diverted to fund investments in rural broadband.

Mr Whittingdale's in-tray will also feature the potential implementation of the Leveson report on press regulation. His predecessor, Sajid Javid, ruled out a further role for the government, following the creation of a self-regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation. But one person involved in past negotiations said Mr Whittingdale would "want something to be done", if Ipso proved inadequate.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rigby

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