Is it fair to ask for shorter video calls if my partner wants to stay connected while doing chores?

Last night I told my partner about a difficult meeting while he folded laundry on our video call. He said, "Hang on, what did your manager say?" I repeated it. Then he carried the phone into the kitchen and started dinner.

We've lived in different cities for six months, with another six to go. We call at nine most evenings. I usually sit down with tea and put everything else aside. He likes keeping the call open while he does ordinary things. He says it feels like sharing a home again, and that a formal twenty-minute conversation makes him feel like an appointment.

I miss that everyday company too. Sometimes watching him search for a matching sock is sweet. But I've started waiting to tell him things until he's finished whatever he's doing, and occasionally I never get round to them.

I suggested shorter calls with our full attention, and he heard that as wanting less time with him. Is there a compromise that leaves room for both kinds of company? I don't want every evening to become an interview, but I do want to finish a story without competing with a frying pan.