Bloated BBC salaries

[Bearnecessity]

Enough is enough stop paying Claudia Winkleman, Gary Linekar and the rest these ridiculous salaries out of public funds it is a disgrace. There is NO justification for it...I would not miss any of them and there are plenty of other people who would do it as well for far less. Nobody can tell me GL deserves £1.75 million. How do these people sleep at night?

The BBC operates in a competitive marketplace and they have to pay competitive salaries to attract the talent. You might not miss certain people but the Beeb would lose market share if all their personalities went elsewhere. I'm afraid I get heartily sick of people bashing the BBC, in my opinion it is an invaluable cultural institution and well worth the public funds it receives

Spot on.

Close thread.

The BBC is an example of the bloated excesses that result from a lack of competition [the taxpayer has no choice other than to fund it] and the typical champagne socialist excesses that result

Haha

I'd double my licence fee to keep the Beeb on air. If only to continue to wind up precious Tories like you.

I stopped giving a flying fig about your opinion when I read your tone and misguided assumptions.

Me too! Even if you just compare the iPlayer to say, Sky Go, the iPlayer is vastly superior.

I love the BBC, No adverts and groundbreaking programmes. Definitely worth the monthly fee. I listen to the radio all day and watch the programmes in the evening/ weekends.

I would be very sad to see it go.

Yeeeeees. Your point?

There is a dearth of true talent out there that will never see the light of day.

Perhaps time for turning talent on its head and bbc actively nurturing talent from drama schools, universities.... Bringing true talent in and launching careers.

BBC wastes fortune....

You've narrowly focussed in on the BBC license fee aspect when the discussion was expanded to cover salary injustice across multiple channels.

Inwardly laughing at the personalities it would loose! Who? Can't think of anyone?

The news programs are beyond boring... Im struggling. I like Graham norten but I'm not wild about him..

The BBC should be abolished IMO.

Dunno, I think the post at 20:05, 20:11 and 20:23 were all pretty much related to the BBC. And regardless, people can post what they want to post when they want to post it.

Crikey Mama that's a bit strong, I like the BBC it does a lot of good I am even happy to pay for it, not as much as I do but there you go I am quite tight....I just don't have it on some God like pedestal and I don't think anyone should be paid these ridiculous salaries.

Quite Single, however randomly....check wed 18:50

The salaries are not ridiculous for the line of work they are in. Many of them could command more if they chose to leave. Plenty of bbc presenters have left for much bigger salaries in the past.

I would disagree that the BBC operates in the marketplace. It operates within its sector, as a broadcaster amongst other things, but it does not need to secure the 'big names' that bring an audience with them; the BBC is funded by anyone owning a TV on threat of improsonment.

Could the BBC not 'bring up' new talent which would be cheaper to employ and provide an additional public service to the one being provided through the content of the programme?

Simple answer is ditch the TV and not pay the licence fee

There are alternatives

YANBU it isn’t just the “stars”. Senior people have trousered millions in payoffs and gold-plated pensions on this gravy train.

As for no adverts - bollocks. BBC stuff is stuffed full of adverts for other BBC stuff all the time. As a regular radio listener I get utterly sick of hearing the same trailers over and over and over - and the ridiculously over the top trails for sports coverage as if they were covering the end of the universe rather than some third rate minority tournament.
The BBC is going to have to wake up - the licence fee is dying, young people just won’t pay it and they’ve got to decide if they want to be a proper public service or chase lowest common denominator ratings. Either way they need a better funding model, soon.

Someone should tell the commercial broadcasters where all this cheap talent is.

They’re under constant pressure to reduce their cost base and if they can do that without losing viewers (or maybe even increasing them if these bargain basement presenters replace the current lot who are clearly shit) then they’ll be able to increase shareholder returns. They’ll be able to go from paying their talent more than the BBC to massively undercutting them - result!

I’m a bit surprised that the CEOs and CFOs haven’t realised this yet but fingers crossed they read MN!

The commercial broadcasters need the 'talent' (read: big names) to draw in advertising and viewers. The BBC could have me presenting something (Jesus! Can you imagine! Let's hope it doesn't come to that!) and they wouldn't lose any revenue.

Wouldn’t lose any revenue - except the quality would be shit and the viewing figures would plummet. Then everyone would say “look, no one’s watching, the BBC is no longer serving it’s audience, we need to cut the licence fee”. Then you have a death spiral of choking off the funding that results in the death of one of the world’s greatest broadcasters and a British success story.

But other than that, all fine I guess.

What is it with all these threads about salaries at the moment?

Market rates.
Are you upset about the salaries at Barclays, Esso etc. ?
I'd love to earn more money. The reality is work in a different field and or work longer hours. Comparison is the thief of joy and there's much more important things to worry about, like it looks were tipping into recession.

OP, not sure I understand the relevance of your post yesterday at 18:50 to our particular discussion, much less had I noticed your comment was yesterday as, alas, this thread only appeared in my ‘Active’ this evening.

So, let's say they use the BBC with up and comers on meagre salaries.

Some are crap, and drive more people to see no value in the BBC. Some are great, and soon many of these are headhunted by commercial broadcasters at much higher rates, taking their audiences with them.
They keep the big names as it keeps.audiences tuning in, then they can cross promote the niche programming that would never see the light of day without the BBC.

CBBC and cbeebies alone are worth it for us, so much better than anything commercially available, show diverse lives and without either ads or constant American accents that are then imitated by my DCs.

BBC salaries in London for off air roles are still less than you get paid going commercial. People do it as it is a good employer and they are proud to be working for them. It's not all glamour and the gravy train, not compared with the alternatives.

I don't think many would propose 'meagre' salaries, but perhaps a few hundred thousand plus a pension and benefits would suffice.

I don't see the link between newer 'talent' and poor quality. Taking Graham Norton as an example, in his early career (channel 4 and earlier as a stand up) he was a warm and gentle host and that won the trust of his guests and audiences. His tone and programme have changed a good deal in the past 20 years, but the talent is there and is not significantly greater now his pay is in the millions. Indeed the BBC poached him from C4 undoubtedly with a strong commercial offer for him. This comment is not personal to GN, just using him as an example.

Are you upset about the salaries at Barclays, Esso etc. ?
Yes, many of them are obscene.

But Barclays doesn’t charge me a fee if I bank at NatWest, and Esso doesn’t charge me for using shell.

The BBC is either different and is funded differently, or it’s the same as a commercial enterprise. It can’t have it both ways. Presenter and senior management salaries are totally ridiculous.

May I ask the defenders of large salaries / packages at the BBC; do you believe that at, say, £10m a year these top names would be worth it?

£10m just been chosen for the purposes of the discussion.