Outgoing BBC director-general Tony Hall has defended the place of all pubcasters in a streaming age, saying they have a key role in bringing the public together. Speaking at the first public session of the British government’s department of culture, media and sport committee hearing on the work of the corporation, Hall said the BBC’s strength laid in operating linear and on-demand services side-by-side.

“The strength of the BBC versus streamers is doing those two things,” said Hall. “There is too much doomsday stuff about ‘in an era of streamers what role is there for public service broadcasters?’ Streamers do certain things extremely well, I’m a fan of Netflix, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a role for public service broadcasters to bring us all together, to add content that is uniquely British and bring those to British audiences. I think that’s why the...