The salaries of some of the BBC’s top radio presenters could be hidden from public view, as part of a plan that would allow the corporation to pay more money to the stars of its leading podcasts.
BBC bosses are reviewing whether to transfer the employees who make many of its public service radio programmes and podcasts into the BBC’s for-profit commercial division.
The arrangement could help stop the loss of BBC stars who are being lured away by commercial podcast companies that can offer more money and increased freedom.
In recent months alone the BBC has lost Americast’s Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s film review show, and Peter Crouch’s podcast. All the shows built large audiences at the cost of the national broadcaster, which has now lost the audiences to rivals.
The inability to cut generous pay deals with presenters is a regular sticking point to retaining stars for the BBC with its podcasts. One key issue is allowing hosts to retain outside income, such as money earned from tours and branded content, when they are working for its public sector arm.
“The BBC realise they have dropped the ball with commercial opportunities for podcasts and they need to figure how to attract podcasters to come and create content for the BBC,” said one individual who has worked with the corporation on podcasts.
BBC bosses are this week discussing whether the in-house teams that make many of its radio programmes should transferred to commercial subsidiary BBC Studios.
At first this would be likely to affect Radio 4’s non-news output – such as its current affairs, consumer, science and health programmes – and many Radio 3 shows.
Although the initial proposals only affect speech radio, staff believe it is possible that the teams who make the BBC’s music programmes for the likes of Radio 1 and Radio 2 could also transfer over at a later date – meaning presenters such as Zoe Ball or Scott Mills could eventually end up being employed on commercial terms.
The BBC has already moved its in-house television production arm and its children’s division across to BBC Studios in similar arrangements.
Being part of BBC Studios would mean the radio production teams could then be deployed to make programmes for external commercial broadcasters. Presenter pay deals would also be covered by confidentiality agreements and not made public in the BBC’s annual report, which is loathed by many high-earning BBC stars.
Unions fear the change will lead to increased pressure on BBC staff to produce profitable podcasts that make money around the world, rather than radio programmes that fulfil traditional public service values.
One National Union of Journalists representative said BBC radio staff working on existing speech radio programmes opposed plans to shift them to the commercial arm: “Many of them join the BBC because they believe in public service broadcasting and its values and ethos, which allow them to make editorial decisions without interference from the personal prejudices and foibles of media moguls, commercial pressure to appease shareholders or government interference.”
With the BBC starting to plan for a potential post-licence fee future, the corporation is keen to make money from alternate sources. The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, has frozen the licence fee for the next two years, necessitating yet another round of funding cuts.
The BBC director-general, Tim Davie , a former boss of BBC Studios, is keen to increase the amount of money the corporation makes from its for-profit operations – then use that money to top up income from the licence fee.
With this in mind he has transferred longstanding BBC executive Bob Shennan over to BBC Studios as its first director of audio, with a brief to find commercial opportunities.
The BBC has already started licensing podcasts made by commercial operators for its BBC Sounds service. One of the deals involved the BBC paying Rupert Murdoch’s News UK to include episodes of the Stories of our times podcast in the app.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We previously announced that we will review BBC speech audio production to ensure we continue to serve our audiences, retain the best talent and increase value for licence fee payers. No decisions have been taken.”
