BBC stars earning more than £150k to be named under Govt plans

The British government says the publicly funded BBC must reveal the salaries of all staff and presenters earning more than 150,000 pounds ($198,000) a year.

The move by Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is significantly tougher than that of predecessor John Whittingdale, who put forwards proposals for a £450,000 trigger.

While the public welcome the new open policy, the BBC are anxious releasing salary details of their talent would affect its ability to bring in top names.

Big stars on the BBC’s wage bill, who will nearly certainly have to publish their pay, include political editor Laura Kuenssberg, “Question Time” host David Dimbleby, and sports presenter Gary Lineker.

“We don’t believe this is in the long-term interests of licence fee payers”.

Under the terms of the draft charter there will be a new BBC Board, which will be responsible for the governance of the organisation while Ofcom takes over responsibility for regulation and the National Audit Office will become the corporation’s financial auditor.

Their intervention came after the Scottish Daily Mail reported that the BBC’s new Royal Charter would kill off the proposal because it commits the corporation to “contributing to the social cohesion and wellbeing of the United Kingdom”. The BBC is expected to make the salaries of presenters earning more than £150,000 public by next summer.

Ms Bradley said: “We have resolved a number of important areas with the BBC, which go further in the key areas of transparency, fairness and securing the BBC’s independence”.

A spokesman for BBC Scotland said: “Work on reviewing our news output, including reviewing our integrated news”.

However, the BBC argues that the release of such details would impair its ability to attract and retain top talent – either because other broadcasters could poach them by making better offers, or for privacy reasons – and that in any case it has already made £8 million of savings in this respect.

“The BBC must be protected and sustained both in its independence and its funding”, Hopkins said Thursday. “Ultimately, the BBC should be judged on the quality of its programmes”.

The current chair of the BBC Trust, Rona Fairhead, who had agreed to carry on until 2018 after a behind-closed-doors agreement with the previous government, made a decision to stand down earlier this week.

SNP Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop insisted country the will continue to receive a “paltry” share of the licence fee.

The current Royal Charter is due to expire at the end of 2016.

That includes the idea for the Six O’Clock News on BBC One to be replaced by an integrated hour of Scottish, UK and global news from Glasgow. “These reforms ensure it will continue to thrive at home and overseas for many years to come”.

But he concluded: “Overall, we have the right outcome for the BBC and its role as a creative power for Britain”.