The ex-footballer earned £1.35m last year for hosting Match of the Day and Euro 2020 coverage, putting him comfortably ahead of second-placed Radio 2 breakfast presenter Zoe Ball, who took home £980,000 from the BBC. Other top earners revealed in the company’s annual report include Lineker’s Match of the Day colleague Alan Shearer on £450,000, BBC Northern Ireland presenter Stephen Nolan on £415,000 and News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards, on £410,000. Several of those on the 2021 highest-paid list have since left the BBC to join commercial rivals, freeing up Dan Walker’s £220,000 salary, Emily Maitlis’ £325,000 and the £225,000 a year earned by former North American editor, John. Sopel. Ever since the BBC was told by the government to reveal the salaries of its highest-paid stars, it has been desperately trying to negotiate an advance and move on from some of its biggest earners, amid ongoing real-terms cuts to license fees. The figures only include work for the BBC’s public service elements, meaning the list is dominated by people who work directly for the BBC’s TV, radio and news departments. Actors and presenters working on programs for the BBC’s commercial production arm are exempt – meaning Fiona Bruce’s reported salary of £410,000 only covers her work on Question Time and presenting newscasts, but excludes the undisclosed amount she receives for the Antiques Roadshow presentation. The figures also reveal the huge sums spent on rounds of redundancies affecting off-air staff as part of ongoing cuts to BBC operations. The company has spent £125m on severance payments over the past two years as many long-serving staff received generous payouts as part of chief executive Tim Davie’s drive to reduce overall headcount by thousands. The BBC’s annual report shows that, but contains worrying indications that its appeal among younger, poorer and ethnically diverse audiences is not improving. This could potentially undermine the case for the £159 universal license fee which provides most of the funding for BBC operations. While 90% of British adults use BBC services at least once a week, these tend to be older and wealthier people – who are often heavy consumers of traditional BBC TV and radio services. Among under-16s – who have grown up with streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube as standard options – just 73% of under-16s use BBC services in an average week. The BBC is trying to fight back by closing TV and radio channels and shifting funding to streaming services iPlayer and Sounds, which have grown significantly over the past 12 months but are coming up against commercial rivals such as Netflix.
The BBC’s top earners on air
- Gary Lineker: £1.35m2. Zoe Ball: £980,000=3. Alan Shearer: £450,000=3. Steve Wright: £450,0005. Stephen Nolan: £415,000=6. Hugh Edwards: £410,000=6. Fiona Bruce: £410,000=8. Scott Mills: £400,000=8. Vanessa Feltz: £400,00010. Greg James: £390,00011. Ken Bruce: £385,000 12. Lauren Laverne: £380,00013. Naga Munchetty: £365,000=14. Amol Rajan: £325,000=14. George Alagiah: £325,000=14. Emily Maitlis: £325,000
