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BBC to reveal total performer pay BBC reveals total performer pay
(about 9 hours later)
The BBC is to reveal the total amount paid to its performers who broadcast on radio and television. The BBC has revealed the total amount it paid to its performers who broadcast on radio and television.
This is thought to be almost £230m a year and, of that figure, £70m goes to the top earners. The corporation paid £229m to artists, presenters, musicians and other contributors for the year up to March 2009 - 6.56% of the licence fee.
The BBC will not disclose individual salaries, saying they are commercially confidential, despite continued pressure from MPs. Of that figure, £70m went to the top earners whose salaries topped £100,000.
However, the corporation will give new details of the pay and expenses given to BBC executives. The BBC has not disclosed individual salaries, saying they are commercially confidential, despite continued pressure from MPs.
Politicians of all parties have urged the corporation to reveal what it pays its stars, and cut what it pays its managers. There were around 300,000 contracts signed with performers, the majority of which were under £1,000.
"Artists, presenters, musicians and other contributors are central to the BBC's ability to deliver high quality and distinctive programming and we know that audiences expect to see and hear them on BBC programmes," said Caroline Thomson, the BBC's chief operating officer.
"The BBC engages some of the greatest performers in the world across television and radio, and also nurtures and develops people that will be at the heart of our programmes in the future. They add to the credibility, expertise and creativity of the BBC."
The total amount paid by the BBC to artists, presenters, musicians and other contributors will now be published each year in its annual report.
Politicians of all parties had urged the corporation to reveal what it pays its stars, and cut what it pays its managers.
Many performers have taken a pay cut, top executives' pay has been published and frozen, and bonuses have been withdrawn.Many performers have taken a pay cut, top executives' pay has been published and frozen, and bonuses have been withdrawn.
Meanwhile, the BBC has also agreed to reveal licence fee-funded payments to some of its leading sports presenters to a House of Commons spending watchdog but not to the public. The news comes as the BBC also published the business-related expenses of its 107 most senior decision-makers for the period July to September 2009. It had previously published expense claims for the previous quarter.
Jeremy Peat, a BBC trustee, said he would provide a breakdown of the costs for major events in confidence to the Public Accounts Committee. For the first time, the BBC has also published details of the gifts and hospitality the senior managers declared covering the period April to September 2009.
He made the offer after committee chairman Edward Leigh accused the corporation of being "obsessed" with celebrities and suggested the figures should be made public.
Talent deals
A fifth of the budget for one such event went on presenters, Mr Leigh said, but its identity was kept secret to prevent anyone knowing what an individual star might have earned.
He said that the three events "in question" were Wimbledon, Euro 2008 and the Olympics.
A National Audit Office (NAO) investigation found last month that the broadcaster was failing to show its coverage of major sporting and music events was providing value for money.
While the NAO had been given the breakdown of the proportion spent on presenters for individual events, it was not allowed to make that public, Mr Leigh said.
Mr Peat said the BBC had to protect the confidentiality of pay deals with its "top talent".
He also said that revealing the split between talent and other staff for each event would make it "possible for people, on the basis of information which is available or could be made available, to get a very good approximation of the cost of some individual talent for some of these events".