The Stage

BBC talent salaries not more than ‘market price’, says review

Published Monday 2 June 2008 at 13:10 by Matthew Hemley

A review into how much the BBC spends on securing the services of on-air and on-screen stars such as Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton has found that the Corporation is not guilty of pushing up prices in the talent market.

The review, carried out by Oliver and Ohlbaum Associates, also found there is no evidence the BBC is paying “more than the market price” for leading TV talent when it finds itself competing with rivals for them.

However, the report said there is “room for improvement” in some of its deals with performers to make sure viewers get value for money from their licence fee.

BBC Trust chairman Michael Lyons said: “The report shows the BBC is not negatively distorting the UK’s market for talent on television and that overall it is achieving deals which represent value for money. We will keep the pressure up to ensure the best deals are reached for licence fee payers and we will review progress in 12 months’ time.”

The review was commissioned after some salary details were leaked to the press, including a three-year deal for Jonathan Ross reportedly worth £18 million.

Other figures suggested that Radio 2’s Terry Wogan got £800,000 a year and that Radio 1 breakfast host Chris Moyles pocketed an annual £630,000.

Although the report does not disclose salaries, it revealed that the BBC made an investment of £242 million in on-screen and on-air talent in 2006/7, which represented around 5.6% of its total licence fee expenditure. The vast majority of its 200,000 talent contracts were for less than £1,000.

The report also concluded that the inflation rate in talent fees per hour for top stars had almost halved from levels during 2000/1 and 2003/4.

Lyons said: “Our conclusions reflect the importance of talent to audiences and the contribution they make to the distinctiveness of programmes: they are often what makes audiences tune in and turn on. Indeed, the value of great entertainers, comedians, actors, presenters and journalists is rightly very high and the BBC has a special responsibility because of its unique funding to help develop the UK’s talent base for the benefit of the industry as a whole.”

However, he added: “The BBC has to be prepared to walk away from deals that do not offer good value to the audience and to equip itself to do this by continually bringing on new talent and through good succession planning.”