Woss £4.5m dosh loss

[Perdita]

A GALAXY of BBC stars will see their megabucks pay hacked back as bosses desperately seek cash savings, it emerged last night.

Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross, Barbara Windsor, Graham Norton and Terry Wogan will be among hundreds of big names left worse off.

Cuts of 25 per cent — and in some cases more — are planned for radio and TV celebs earning more than £100,000 a year.

Ross, 48, is on a three-year contract worth a reputed £18million. That could be slashed by at least £4.5million, or £1.5million a year, when it comes up for renewal.

The star, who has a Friday night TV chat show and a Saturday morning show on Radio 2, returned only last week from a three-month suspension over a vile prank phone call to Fawlty Towers legend Andrew Sachs.

Norton, 45, has a £5million two-year deal, which will fall by at least £1.25million.

Radio 2 star Wogan, 70, will drop £200,000 from his current £800,000 a year contract and Radio 1 loudmouth Chris Moyles, 34, will lose £158,000 from his salary of £630,000.

Barbara, 71 — Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders — will face a £90,000 cut from her reported £360,000 a year.

Even “run of the mill” talent like daytime presenters face a ten per cent cut. Existing contracts will not be affected but cuts will come when stars renegotiate deals.

Ross’s contract is understood to be up for renewal next year.

His suspension has already cost him £1.5million.

A TV insider said last night: “The BBC, like many organisations, has to make radical savings. Hundreds of staff have been told they will have to have a pay freeze and lose their bonuses.

“It’s only right big stars feel the same pain. This will send a signal to licence payers that no one is safe from the cost-cutting.”

The move could lead to stars QUITTING the BBC to seek bigger deals elsewhere.

The source said: “If someone says, ‘I’m not prepared to accept that deal’, then the BBC will say, ‘OK, thanks, see you’. All the other broadcasters are slashing costs, so they’re confident that whatever they offer will be market rates — just lower than before.

“The 25 per cent is seen as a minimum — some stars could face higher cuts. It all depends on what they earn and how valuable they are to the BBC. If someone’s show has dropped in the ratings, they might get a bigger cut.”

The Sun revealed last week that ITV is slashing salaries, with Ant and Dec expected to take a cut from their £20million deals.

News of the BBC cuts comes 24 hours after the Corporation announced a wage and bonus freeze for its top 400 managers, saving £20million.

The aim is to save £2.15billion by 2013.

A BBC Trust report last June revealed £242million was spent in a year on stars.

Forty earned more than £1million a year. Up to 300 were on £100,000 to £500,000.

Good news imo, vastly overpaid, all of them. These are licence fees that are being wasted when it could pay for good drama and entertainment programmes.

[di marco]

im glad theyre cutting the "big stars" salaries and not just freezing the salaries of the employees who earn a lot less

[Abigail]

It's about time the BBC stopped wasting our money paying talentless 'stars' ridiculous wages.

How can the BBC justify £18m over three years for Jonathan Ross? He doesn't deserve that sort of money for the little work he does.

[pookie1968uk]

its about time they took pay cuts. there are people all over the country taking pay cuts to help keep their jobs and the celebs and bosses at the bbc earn obscene amounts of money and we pay them with our license money!

[Perdita]

The BBC yesterday announced £400million in 'painful cuts and reductions'.
The corporation will slash stars' salaries, dump extravagant corporate hospitality, axe bonuses and clamp down on expenses.

Bosses blame an inability to sell off buildings due to the property slump, fewer households buying TV licences and a fall in commercial revenues.

But there will be no more major redundancies, director general Mark Thompson told the BBC Trust when they met to discuss future spending plans.

Stars including Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Jeremy Clarkson, Jeremy Paxman and Terry Wogan could have their salaries cut by up to 25 per cent.

In the case of Jonathan Ross, this would mean his current £18million three-year-deal would drop by £4.5million if he signed on for the same period again.
More than 400 managers will see their pay frozen and bonuses are being axed to save £20million.

The BBC is also ending hospitality events and expensive programme launches. Entertaining at Wimbledon last year cost £81,000 while the unveiling of four flagship dramas, including Merlin and Little Dorrit, cost £160,000.

The broadcaster's legendary expenses such as taxi bills and first-class flights are also likely to be clamped down on as a result of the current climate.
The BBC has axed 7,200 jobs over the past four-and-a-half years with another 1,200 in the pipeline.

Mr Thompson said: 'Without further significant reduction in our spending we would exceed our borrowing limit within two years.

'So we will be proposing a further £400million of painful cuts and reductions in expenditure.'

But there are suspicions the BBC is desperate to portray itself as struggling with costs, at a time when commercial rivals are being worse hit.
Last week Conservative leader David Cameron called for the licence fee to be frozen for a year saying it should 'lead by example' during tough times.

He called on the government to match his pledge, which he said would provide a lead in showing how far taxpayer-funded bodies could 'deliver more for less'.
There is also growing pressure for the BBC to either hand over part of the licence fee to Channel 4 or at least share some of its assets with it.
BBC chiefs are desperately resisting any attempts to cut what it has to spend as a government review is looking into the future of public service TV.
Others used today's announcement as proof that the corporation has been over-funded for years and say cuts could have been made earlier.

In a clear reference to Mr Cameron's comments last week, Mr Thompson defended the licence fee in his speech.

He said the idea that the creative industries needed further investment reductions made little sense.

Mr Thompson rejected any notion that the BBC was swimming with cash.
Shadow Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, responding to Mr Thompson's rejection of a licence-fee freeze, said: 'It is a real shame that the BBC has chosen not to respond positively to the real financial worries facing households throughout Britain.

'It's not programming they should be cutting but bureaucracy and waste. When inflation is near to zero, is this really the time to be increasing the cost of the licence fee?'

[Chloe O'brien]

Oh my how will Wossy feed his kids on £4.5 million less a year. If any these so-called celebs had a heart they would volunteer to give up some of their salary. It's all fine them turning up for one hour a week to do a show but its the front-line staff who do the real work and are paid pennies for it.

[Pinkbanana]

To be honest I think the pay of these 'big stars' should be cut by more than 25%... it's obscene what these people are getting paid to start with.

[DaVeyWaVey]

I echo all of your views. God knows how the likes of Jonathan Ross or Barbara Windsor get paid loads of money. It probably helps inflate their big egos more than anything. About time the extra money was spent on something worthwhile like new drama..?

[Chloe O'brien]

Is it just me but when I am watching any programme now I am constantly thinking about the amount of money spent instead of enjoying the programme. For instance tonight while watching Total Wipeout Marley was laughing her head of but I just thought why couldn't they make the programme here instead of going to Argentina and where did they get the £10 grand prize money from, also the lottery they have a number of presenters and guests WHY!! Can't they just come on show us the winning numbers and without all the extra costs.

[Abigail]

I agree about the lottery. What a waste of half an hour (or however long it is) of prime time tv to draw the balls, have someone sing and all the rest that they do. Ten minutes is sufficient to do all the draws, like they do on a Wednesday night.

The BBC shouldn't have agreed all these bg bucks contracts in the first place. Their main priority should always be to provide good quality, varied programs that every one can watch, from toddlers to the older generation. Spending £18m on one person (who IMO is not worth it) over three years is a disgrace. Imagine what the BBC could pull out of the hat program wise if all these people were paid a wage in line with the lower paid presenters working for the BBC.

To some extent, I'm fine with paying for a tv license. I think the BBC produce better quality programs than the other terrestrial providers. If they need public money to carry on funding these brilliant programs then I'm all for it.