Co-conspirators watching Argentina crash and burn in the World Cup final last night will have been treated to a new halftime advert from the BBC, in which various highly-paid B-listers plead viewers to keep paying the £180 licence fee. Comedian Romesh Ranganathan dutifully reads his script, which claims the BBC “creates six and a half billion pounds for the economy”.
The figure traces to the BBC’s Annual Report, published this month, which put the corporation’s ‘contribution’ to the UK economy at £6.7 billion for 2025 to 2026. That is a Gross Value Added estimate, measuring money flowing through the BBC and its suppliers. It does not measure new wealth conjured from nothing.
The licence fee raised roughly £3.9 billion in the year to March, and every pound of it is taken by law from households who would otherwise have spent it elsewhere. Rather than spending it on Scott Mills’ £750,000 salary, they might have spent it on other broadcasters, other services, and other businesses. It is ridiculous to pretend the licence fee is some great boon for the British economy. But when 500,000 people stop paying in a single year, is it any surprise to see them wheel out the celebrities to beg for mercy…
Scott Mills has claimed the top spot on the BBC’s presenter payroll despite his sacking, doubling his salary to a hefty £749,999 last year. Gary Lineker slides down to a comparatively modest £325,000–£329,999 for his stint on Match of the Day before quitting last May. A long way from last year’s £1.35 million…
Among the news and current affairs crowd, Laura Kuennsberg leads the pack on £405,000–£409,999, with Question Time host Fiona Bruce on £345,000–£349,999, and Today’s Nick Robinson on £330,000–£334,999. Political Editor Chris Mason picks up £275,000–£279,999. Robinson and Bruce took hefty pay cuts compared to the previous year…
Former Director-General Tim Davie didn’t, though. His pay rose to £565,000 (up from £547,000) in his final year before resigning in the wake of the Trump Panorama debacle. All while the number of people forking out for the licence fee has fallen by more than half a million in the last year…
Read the full report here, and click below to see the top stars’ pay:
Continue reading “Sacked Scott Mills Becomes BBC’s Highest Paid Star as Licence Fee Revenue Shrinks”
Lisa Nandy doesn’t appear to understand her own new proposals to starve independent news publishers and promote state-owned ones. Know-nothing Nandy…
At the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee yesterday Damian Hinds asked about the potential problems within the Media Green Paper that could see prominence for ‘Public Service Broadcasters’ but not commercial news publishers. Guido revealed Labour’s soviet-style plans in April…
Nandy was insistent that the green paper was a “TV green paper” that “increased people’s access to high-quality television content” and was not a “news green paper.” Thereby not understanding the actual content of said green paper…
In the same discussion Nandy said that the government wanted to increase access to “high-quality print media from an earlier age,” which is not referenced in the green paper. Freewheeling…
The government strategy as written risks promoting news stories broken by the newspapers below copies of those stories by ‘PSBs’ like the BBC – removing incentive for original reporting – unless news publishers sign up new regulation. Cuckoo…
New BBC Director General Matt Brittin and Chairman Samir Shah are answering culture select committee MPs’ questions on the Charter Review. Follow along live…
The Bob Vylan fiasco isn’t over for the BBC after the duo said it would now sue the BBC. For what remains unclear…
A statement released by the act this afternoon says:
“We have decided to take legal action against the BBC.
In the immediate aftermath of our performance at Glastonbury 2025, The BBC wasted no time in placing labels upon us that did not, do not and never will fit.
As a corporation that receives the majority of its funding from the public, it has disappointingly continued to prove how little it represents the interests of the people and our access to unbiased news and information.
The BBC have attempted to silence those that oppose the heinous crimes taking place in Palestine, instead labelling them as anti-semitic, editing their speeches, removing their content and even blocking the release of documentaries that challenge the desired narrative of The BBC and it’s [sic] top brass.
These responses are unacceptable.
So seeing the opportunity to remind them the power of the people that they are attempting to silence, we had no choice but to take on this fight.
In fact, we take great pleasure in serving them that reminder in court.”
Another headache for new Director General Matt Brittin, who is in front of MPs at the Culture select committee next week for the first time…
Word reaches Guido that the government intends to publish a green paper on the future of broadcasting in the UK either in the coming week or the week after. More Ofcom expansion and pot shots at right-of-centre outlets incoming…
The main news, however, is set to be a range of measures to force private social media companies to ‘give prominence’ to public service content. Translated, that means giving the BBC preference in search results and on the algorithm of video sites such as YouTube. It’s not as if the BBC already has total dominance of the broadcast market or anything, holding as it does more than 75% of average viewing time…
Other platforms like TikTok will likely be affected. Could the timing have anything to do with the fact that YouTube overtook the total audience reach of the BBC recently?
Forcing British consumers to consume BBC and other public broadcasting content while they browse their phones is yet another government intervention in the free media market. It’s bad for content creators, will only increase antipathy to the BBC, and is an infringement on the freedom of scrollers everywhere. Starmer wants a legacy to justify his two disastrous years in Number 10. This is what it looks like…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”