£2m Lineker & BBC stars’ pay secrets
96 stars are on over £150,000 ..& two thirds of them are men
MATCH Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker will be unveiled today as one of the BBC’s top earners with a salary of just below £2million.
Beeb bosses have been forced by the Government to reveal what stars are paid – with Chris Evans expected to head the wage-list getting up to £3million for TV work and his Radio 2 breakfast show.
Former England football legend Lineker is on a list of 96 on-air presenters, entertainers and actors on £150,000-plus a year listed in the BBC’s annual report.
But no star receives more than £3million – a far cry from a decade ago when Jonathan Ross was paid £6million a year to front his BBC1 chat show.
The figures also highlight that just one third of the top talent are women.
Among these are Claudia Winkleman, who gets around £500,000 for her roles on Strictly Come Dancing and Radio 2.
Tess Daly, who has been on Strictly far longer, earns less than Claudia.
Others expected to feature high on the list include BBC1 chat show host Graham Norton on £2.5million, sports presenter Clare Balding and news anchors Fiona Bruce and Huw Edwards.
BBC director-general Tony Hall described the enforced move as a “poachers’ charter” as he braced himself for in-fighting among stars discovering how much their colleagues are on.
He argued against the Government’s insistence that the public deserve to know what presenters are paid because it comes out of the licence fee income.
The move was also opposed by the BBC’s rivals ITV and Channel 4 because it could drive up wages for talent.
One source said: “This could cause carnage among the BBC’s staff, with everyone knowing what everyone else earns. Agents will be up in arms and demanding meetings all over the place.
“And who benefits? No one. The BBC is more conservative with its pay packets than other TV employers but it still has to be competitive otherwise why would the top stars want to work there?
“Now the public will view them all as overpaid prima donnas but really their earnings are dictated by market forces.
“And for anyone looking to poach a BBC star this is just a dream. They know exactly how much to offer to lure them away.”
Hall told BBC staff: “Comparing people’s pay is not straightforward. Few do the same thing. People working at the same show may have other, or different, commitments.”
He also stressed he was only revealing the salaries under duress.
“In all the negotiations with the Government, we said it would be wrong to put the names of our talent against what they are paid,” said Hall. The BBC’s annual report this morning will prove that the total bill for on-air talent has been reduced by £4million from £198million in 2016 to £194million.
Bigger savings have come from the culling of senior managers at the BBC, down to 306 from 356 last year. In 2009, there were 640 costing £78.5million, now the bill is £42.2million. More than 43,000 BBC talent contracts were signed last year, but those earning more than £150,000 formed less than a quarter of one per cent.
Hall told staff: “We need to employ the very best.
“Talented people in front of the camera or microphone are critical for our relationship with audiences. They help make the BBC what it is.”
But Hall admitted that more work was needed to close the gap in gender pay.
For anyone looking to poach a BBC star, this is just a dream BEEB SOURCE ON THE ANNUAL REPORT