Outgoing BBC chief Tony Hall to open Edinburgh TV Festival

Tony Hall

Outgoing BBC director general Tony Hall is set to deliver the opening address at the Edinburgh TV Festival next week.

Hall will open this year’s online edition of the festival on Monday, 24 August and is expected to reflect upon his seven-year tenure in what will be one of his final public appearances in the top BBC job.

He will also discuss issues including diversity, the role of news in public service broadcasting and the competition faced by global streaming services.

Hall is also expected to discuss what the future landscape might look like for the UK TV industry in a post-pandemic world.

His address will commence four days of discussions about the industry, which will also include the MacTaggart Lecture keynote address by broadcaster and historian David Olusoga.

Olusoga’s speech will address the “unprecedented” challenges faced by the industry, and the world, in the face of the pandemic and the death of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matters protests.

BBC Studios’ CEO Tim Davie was named in June as Hall’s successor as the new director general.