BBC released Top Earners' Salaries

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I think the problem with talking about market value is that we aren't talking about a broadcaster with a modest share of viewing and listening time, we're talking about the bbc with 30% share of audience, about double that of ITV and 5 times sky. Half of the country listen to BBC national radio at some point in the week. The nature of the programming also lends viewership to content rather than stars. People won't switch to sky news because Huw Edwards is gone, stop listening to radio two in the morning before Chris Evans is gone, stop watching BBC soaps because a specific character is gone. They aren't like prominent members in a business structure or sports teams who can have a very meaningful impact on performance.

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Reply 61

nulli tertius

Original post by TimmonaPortella

Of course it's possible. The whole spectacle of outsiders getting involved in what one star or another 'should' be paid, or 'deserves' to be paid, without understanding the commercial context or the workings of the BBC is completely ridiculous.

This whole issue is a great advert against transparency tbh. We really need organisations to stop revealing information to the public. The public just turns around and uses it in stupid ways.

No, it doesn't. This idea that individuals acting separately should necessarily lead to equal outcomes between two different groupings is infuriating. May as well compare what blondes and brunettes happen to make at the BBC and get all outraged when it turns out not to be precisely the same overall.

The BBC have no defence to the equality argument. The lines being trotted out here and elsewhere in justification are exactly the same ones that lost in countless tribunal claims in other industries in the 1970s.

Remember any woman who is currently employed by Auntie can a bring a discrimination claim back to the commencent of her service or 1975 whichever is the later. Once it is clear that there is systematic discrimination, each woman hasn't got to find an individual comparitor. There are going to be some very big pay days.

It seems clear that pay in BBC News is out of control. With few exceptions these are not people who would (a) take audience share with them; or (b) result in a loss of skills/contacts, if they left. With the exception of the Political Editor (Kuenssberg) and World Affairs Editor (Simpson), none of the subject or country specialists nor any of the "firemen" ie those sent abroad to cover wars/disasters etc are in the high pay bracket. They are virtually all presenters.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 62

nulli tertius

Original post by Jammy Duel

I am not sure Evans is the best example. The identity of Radio 1 and 2 DJs does have an impact on audience share. However your general point is well-made.

Reply 63

astutehirstute

This the funniest thread I have read on TSR for a long time, possibly ever. :biggrin:

All the lefties on here suddenly understand the impact of the market on pay when it is their beloved BBC! But when it comes to business executives it is all about how morally wrong it is compared to the pay of those lower down the food chain.

Laughable.

As a licence payer I am appalled that someone reading an autocue on the nightly news gets paid such obscene amounts of money. How much "talent" does that require? Which of us couldn't do it??

As for John Humphries good luck to him next time he asks a banker to justify his salary!

Good on that miner. He said what normal working people feel. The lefties on here are on another planet...

Reply 64

Reality Check

Original post by astutehirstute

This the funniest thread I have read on TSR for a long time, possibly ever. :biggrin:

You know not everyone who supports the BBC is, to use your disparaging terminology, a 'leftie'...

Reply 65

Notnek

Original post by astutehirstute

As a licence payer I am appalled that someone reading an autocue on the nightly news gets paid such obscene amounts of money. How much "talent" does that require? Which of us couldn't do it??

The BBC1 newsreaders have worked their way up to the very top of their profession and are watched by millions of people every day. Whether you think they are talented or not is irrelevant.

Reply 66

Kravence

Original post by astutehirstute

As a licence payer I am appalled that someone reading an autocue on the nightly news gets paid such obscene amounts of money. How much "talent" does that require? Which of us couldn't do it??

The irony of this :facepalm:

Reply 67

nulli tertius

Original post by Notnek

The BBC1 newsreaders have worked their way up to the very top of their profession and are watched by millions of people every day. Whether you think they are talented or not is irrelevant.

And if they wandered off to Sky, could be replaced by newsreaders at a third of the cost? How do we know this? Because the BBC are employing newsreaders reading the same bulletins at a third of the cost.

Reply 68

Notnek

I'm sure this will be controversial but is it a big issue that 10/96 of the >£150,000 BBC staff are non-white since this is similar to the proportion of non-white people in the UK. For people complaining about this figure, what do you think the number should be?

Not so much here but I'm seeing a lot of people focusing on this rather than the gender pay gap.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 69

Doones

Original post by astutehirstute

As a licence payer I am appalled that someone reading an autocue on the nightly news gets paid such obscene amounts of money. How much "talent" does that require? Which of us couldn't do it??

Appalled? It appals a (presumably) pro-market right winger? How much do newsreaders in the US earn?

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Reply 70

Four Queue

Some of these figures are hard to comprehend. Nearly a million combined for the one show hosts? :eek:

I've always thought people often overvalue the importance of TV presenters. Keys and Gray were big name presenters on big bucks at Sky. It didn't take long to replace them. People will still tune in to watch football, same with the News. They are not talents, they are just reading the news.

Chris Evans? Yuck

Original post by Four Queue

Some of these figures are hard to comprehend. Nearly a million combined for the one show hosts? :eek:

The One Show presenters are bland and it would be easy to replace them. Obviously people like Graham Norton are a bit different.

Reply 73

Four Queue

Original post by YaliaV

The One Show presenters are bland and it would be easy to replace them. Obviously people like Graham Norton are a bit different.

Yeah, I'm not saying presenting is easy, but I think their importance is definitely overestimated. Huw Edwards reads the news. People do not watch the news because of him, they want to watch the news.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 74

Doones

Huw earning his crust. (I watched this live at the time, he was amazeballs...)

[video="youtube;BzWcQ2nZVg4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzWcQ2nZVg4[/video]

Reply 75

astutehirstute

Original post by Reality Check

You know not everyone who supports the BBC is, to use your disparaging terminology, a 'leftie'...

Not all, but most.

Reply 76

Tsar101

Great...feminists will now try to revive the widely debunked pay gap issue between males and females without even trying to acknowledge potential reasons for such discrepancies. Maybe the pay gap is attributed due to supply vs demand as is the case in other professions such as football. It may not be the case, but it is a likely reason.

Reply 77

astutehirstute

Original post by Doonesbury

Huw earning his crust. (I watched this live at the time, he was amazeballs...)

[video="youtube;BzWcQ2nZVg4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzWcQ2nZVg4[/video]

You should watch a Captain of Industry at work. Providing strategic leadership for an unutterably complex business, taking high pressure, incredibly difficult decisions all day every day, managing tens of thousands of people, maintaining livelihoods for them all. At risk, if they make a mistake, of summary dismissal and public humiliation.

That IS Amazeballs.

Sitting in front of a camera and scratching your head? Not so much.

Reply 78

username878267

As a left wing individual I do not care at all that Fiona Bruce is 'only' earning 300k a year.

I care more about those who due to govenrment cuts are finding it difficult to meet the costs of living or those who find themselves in low paid, insecure jobs.

Celebrity women 'only' earning a few hundred thousand. Pah give me a break.