[DTV]

I think Bundock appearing to be outside of the process is more due to historical differences rather than her being an example of a genuine 3rd option. It seems likely that Bundock (and Victoria Valentine) never held the position of lead news presenter even prior to the merger but instead held a different position with elements of News and Business that was never put at risk due to the slot essentially having been left untouched by the merger and therefore the slot remained outside of the consultation process in its entirety. This being the case would be backed up by the fact that this slot only seems to be presented by those attached to the business unit or those who are known to be freelance and is never presented by staff presenters or the currently appointed presenter reporters.

Yes, this is almost certainly the case. But the point is there are clearly more than two pay grades for presenters who appear on the channel, there's nothing to prevent the BBC creating an extra category of staff presenters on that intermediate level (if they wanted to go down that route) - the rigidity of chief presenters vs presenter-reporters isn't set in stone.