BBC cuts pay of million-pound stars
Britain's austerity drive is finally reaching one corner of the small screen: the total pay of the BBC's handful of on-screen million-pound earners has dropped by a third to just short of £10m in the last financial year. Stars such as Graham Norton and Jeremy Paxman are among those understood to be taking pay cuts during the period.
The BBC is expected to reveal on Monday that the amount it pays "top talent", earning £1m or more, has dropped to £9.7m in the year to March 2012, which compares with £14.6m the year before, with Norton reducing his £2m a year salary and the presenter of Newsnight dropping out of the million a year bracket.
However, because there are fewer than 10 individuals involved, the BBC will not say how many stars earned more than £1m last year – and is only expected to reveal that about 15 received more than £500,000 from the licence fee during 2011-12 – a drop from 19 in the previous year.
A cut to Norton's pay would leave Gary Lineker as the BBC's highest earner. The former England striker turned Match of the Day host earns an estimated £2m a year, but he is under pressure to cut his pay when his contract comes up in a year's time after fellow pundit Alan Hansen had a third slashed from his £1.5m-a-year deal in February.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/13/bbc-pay-cuts-million-pound-stars
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