Perdita
10-03-2009, 06:09
BBC stars could soon appear on other channels after bosses banned costly “golden handcuffs” deals.
Cash-strapped executives are fed-up paying “extortionate” sums to stop big names like Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton working for rivals.
Now exclusive deals like Wossy’s £6million-a-year wages will be replaced with flexible working.
One ruse will see stars offered MORE work for the same or less cash.
Or they will be told they can only do certain work for other channels — like daytime shows if they already front a primetime show for the BBC.
TV Biz revealed stars had already been asked to take pay cuts of up to 25 per cent.
An insider said: “Exclusive deals are a thing of the past. They were becoming extortionate and not good value for licence fee payers.
“Obviously we still want talent to just work with us and not for ITV or Channel 4. But we’ll have to think of other tactics. If we can keep someone busy for long enough, hopefully they won’t have any time to work elsewhere.”
Cash-strapped executives are fed-up paying “extortionate” sums to stop big names like Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton working for rivals.
Now exclusive deals like Wossy’s £6million-a-year wages will be replaced with flexible working.
One ruse will see stars offered MORE work for the same or less cash.
Or they will be told they can only do certain work for other channels — like daytime shows if they already front a primetime show for the BBC.
TV Biz revealed stars had already been asked to take pay cuts of up to 25 per cent.
An insider said: “Exclusive deals are a thing of the past. They were becoming extortionate and not good value for licence fee payers.
“Obviously we still want talent to just work with us and not for ITV or Channel 4. But we’ll have to think of other tactics. If we can keep someone busy for long enough, hopefully they won’t have any time to work elsewhere.”