Media
The BBC Trust will investigate the amount top earning talent is paid.
The BBC was criticised by the Commercial Radio Companies Association last year after the salaries of a number of DJs were printed in The Sun and The Mirror, following a leak by a temporary BBC employee.
It was reported that Jonathan Ross would be paid £18 million for a three-year-deal. Terry Wogan was reputed to earn £800,000 for his radio show, while Chris Moyles was apparently paid £630,000.
In the BBC's annual review, the BBC Trust acknowledged that "talent costs have emerged as a significant issue for BBC radio, and a source of concern to the public and commercial operators. We have built this into our forward plan of value-for-money studies."
As part of these investigations, the Trust said that during 2007 and 2008 it will "carry out a study into the BBC's role in the talent market- to ensure that the BBC is generating the greatest value for audiences."
Despite assurances that BBC salaries and their effect on the commercial market will be investigated, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons told a House of Lords select committee in June that "issues about how much to pay a particular performer are not a matter for the trust, they rest entirely with the director general and his executive board."
In another section of the annual review, executives at the BBC defended payments made to on-screen stars. They claimed that many of the leaked figures were "totally inaccurate", and that competitors' suggestions that they had disrupted the market with over-inflated salaries were wrong. They responded: "The market for talent was driven by the commercial sector. Presenters were often offered far more by rival broadcasters but chose to come and work for the BBC."
"Most of the on-air talent the BBC employs is modestly rewarded, and the handful of exceptions represents some of the best-loved faces and voices in UK broadcasting. We believe that licence fee payers expect the best from the BBC even if that means a significant outlay."
The BBC was criticised by the Commercial Radio Companies Association last year after the salaries of a number of DJs were printed in The Sun and The Mirror, following a leak by a temporary BBC employee.
It was reported that Jonathan Ross would be paid £18 million for a three-year-deal. Terry Wogan was reputed to earn £800,000 for his radio show, while Chris Moyles was apparently paid £630,000.
In the BBC's annual review, the BBC Trust acknowledged that "talent costs have emerged as a significant issue for BBC radio, and a source of concern to the public and commercial operators. We have built this into our forward plan of value-for-money studies."
As part of these investigations, the Trust said that during 2007 and 2008 it will "carry out a study into the BBC's role in the talent market- to ensure that the BBC is generating the greatest value for audiences."
Despite assurances that BBC salaries and their effect on the commercial market will be investigated, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons told a House of Lords select committee in June that "issues about how much to pay a particular performer are not a matter for the trust, they rest entirely with the director general and his executive board."
In another section of the annual review, executives at the BBC defended payments made to on-screen stars. They claimed that many of the leaked figures were "totally inaccurate", and that competitors' suggestions that they had disrupted the market with over-inflated salaries were wrong. They responded: "The market for talent was driven by the commercial sector. Presenters were often offered far more by rival broadcasters but chose to come and work for the BBC."
"Most of the on-air talent the BBC employs is modestly rewarded, and the handful of exceptions represents some of the best-loved faces and voices in UK broadcasting. We believe that licence fee payers expect the best from the BBC even if that means a significant outlay."
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