Mr. Davie made the comments at the Westminster Public Accounts Committee on Thursday while addressing concerns about proposals to scrap The Breakfast Show and hourly news bulletins and reduce posts at the station.
Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, deputy chair of the committee, questioned the BBC chief at the request of local MPs Colum Eastwood and Gregory Campbell.
“It is an issue that is felt very strongly locally and it is a long way from Belfast. It is a very separate community out there,” said Mr. Clifton-Brown.
He asked Mr. Davie if the decision to implement the cuts in Derry was proportionate.
“I gather that you have 650 staff in Belfast whereas you only have 20 in Derry so it does seem a little bit disproportionate perhaps to cut off The Breakfast Show out there which a lot of local people rely on,” said Mr. Clifton-Brown.
The BBC boss replied: “I'm going to sound a bit like a broken record to some of these, which is, we have to make sure in terms of where the audience impact is and where our money is, and, sorry, about where the future is going.
“And with regard to Foyle this is a painful saving but we believe we should be investing more in digital and doing more across the whole of NI, in terms of developing the production sector and other things. So we think there are better ways of using the money.”
Addressing complaints that he had not yet responded to requests from Derry City and Strabane District Council for a meeting, he stated: “We have only just received some of those letters. I do believe in...responding. Engagement is a critical factor for the BBC and we need to listen and we are there to serve.”
Asked if he was willing to meet the Foyle MP Colum Eastwood, he stated: “Whether it is me or a senior colleague we will come back and confirm that in the next day or two.”
Mr. Davie acknowledged that there are ‘differences in the community [in Derry] there that needs to be served’.
“There remain three hours of opt [opt-in programming] during the week day, including a full half hour news programme for that area which is 137,000, I think, the area.
“So we are continuing that. We are consulting with our staff until May.”
The director general said there were no plans to implement any further cuts at Radio Foyle over the ‘next period’.
“We are committed to keeping the three hours of programming which is the half hour news programme and I think we've got two other programmes which we are keeping, which I can just confirm. It is actually The Mark Patterson show and The Sean Coyle show will both be kept.”
