STAR presenters will not be expected to take a 10% pay cut being imposed on lesser-known names in the BBC hierarchy, it was claimed yesterday.
All presenters in national and regional television and radio will be faced with minimum 10% salary cuts when contracts come up for renewal as the corporation attempts to close a £4bn funding deficit.
But the cuts are not thought to extend to the t
op presenters on multi-million pay deals, such as Terry Wogan, Jeremy Clarkson and Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton.
Those facing 10% cuts are thought to include journalists such as Today's John Humphreys and James Naughtie and newsreader Fiona Bruce.
The two-tier cuts strategy has angered BBC unions, which have already threatened strike action this year over the loss of 2,500 jobs. The cuts have been prompted by a less-than-generous licence fee settlement from the Government.
Wages are the biggest bill with the BBC spending £242m on screen and radio talent in 2006/7. Around 40 BBC stars now earn more than £1m.
Clarkson, 48, has negotiated a new Top Gear contract that is expected to earn him £18m. His deal with BBC Worldwide gives him a share of the profits from the station which has 225 million global viewers.
Wogan, a BBC stalwart for more than 40 years, earns £800,000 for five two-hour radio shows a week and 10 Points Of View programmes. He tops that up with £150,000 for presenting the Eurovision Song Contest.
Ross, 47, has an £18m three-year deal for his Friday night chat show, a Film Weekly programme and a two-hour Radio Two show. He also earned £100,000 for hosting the Baftas.
Irish chat show host Norton is on a £2.5m-a-year contract.
The pay cuts come at a time when BBC executives are enjoying six-figure salary rises despite the corporation being fined £400,000 by media watchdog Ofcom after a series of phone-in scandals.
One disgruntled presenter, who declined to be named, said: "This (pay cut] is being imposed by directors who have to take ultimate responsibility for the Ofcom fine. When these directors take a 10% pay cut then maybe some of us will be more willing to agree to belt-tightening."
A BBC source said: "There will be very tough contract negotiations. We have not got enough money and we are facing huge rises in our fuel bills. When contracts come up for renewal they will have to agree to 10% cuts. At least 10%."
The full article contains 435 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
