BBC director-general Mark Thompson is to step down from his role at the broadcaster this autumn.

According to Sky News, Mr Thompson announced the move on March 19 in an email to staff at the corporation after a meeting with BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten.

He said: "This morning I told Lord Patten that I believe that an appropriate time for me to hand over to a successor and to step down as Director-General of the BBC would be the autumn of this year, once the Olympics and the rest of the amazing summer of 2012 are over."

Mr Thompson said he had discussed his leaving date with Lord Patten last year and said he wanted his successor to "have time to really get their feet under the table" before the next review of the BBC charter, before the end of 2016.

The corporation had "weathered a series of lively storms" during his almost eight years in the top job, he said, and was "so much stronger than the BBC I inherited back in 2004".

Mr Thompson said: "Trust and approval are at record highs, our services are in brilliant creative form and we've demonstrated beyond contradiction that the BBC can be just as much of a leader and innovator in the digital age as we once were in the analogue one."