BBC boss Tony Hall has promised a "revolution" in the way the corporation is run and pledged to open it up to competition.

The director-general wants an overhaul of programme-making at the corporation which would see it creating shows for rivals - as well as screening more shows made by competitors on its channels.

Lord Hall praised the "entrepreneurial spirit" of the early days of Hollywood and said he wanted to bring that to the BBC.

He said: "We are going to go further than we ever have done before in opening the BBC to more competition, a revolution in the way we look at competition."

The director-general said the system, which guarantees half of all BBC production to in-house teams, had produced "top quality" shows but needed to change.

Speaking at a seminar at City University in central London, he said it was producing an "increasingly distorted market" which was "squeezing out creativity".

Mr Hall said he wants new rules laid down in the next BBC charter, which is up for renewal in 2016, that creates a level playing field but he said the BBC will always be a programme maker.

He said: "It would be extremely odd to stop the BBC, one of the world's great programme makers, from making programmes."