Tim Davie takes over the BBC today

Tim Davie's appointment comes at a critical time for the public service broadcaster, which is facing political pressure on its production and funding model. The BBC's new director-general has promised to continue to reform the public service broadcaster "with urgency," while facing fierce debate over its funding model.

"Our focus must be to ensure that we deliver exceptional and exclusive value to all audiences - those who pay for us and are our customers - in return for their licence fee. To do this, we will need to continue to reform the BBC as a matter of urgency so that we are reliable, relevant and indispensable in this digital age," he said.

The new boss will be forced to fight the decline of the public - especially among younger viewers - amid the rise of big-money streaming rivals like Netflix, Amazon and Disney.