THE ISSUE BBC bosses accused of fat cat pay rises
Whether the public likes it or not, the BBC takes £139.50 from all households who watch television. From its £3.4 billion annual licence fee income, the broadcaster gave its 10 most senior executives pay increases averaging 16% last year – more than five times the rate of inflation. Jana Bennett, left, its “director of vision” (that’s TV to you and me), saw her pay packet soar by £103,000 to £536,000, including a £23,000 bonus. Jenny Abramsky, the outgoing head of audio and music (aka radio), took home an extra £90,000, including a £19,000 bonus. BBC bosses also get gold-plated pensions: Abramsky will leave the BBC, after almost 40 years, with a pension pot of £4m – believed to be the biggest in the public sector.

WHY THE BACKLASH? It's been an annus horribilis for the Beeb
The generous payouts have been granted even though the corporation has been plagued by a year of fakery and rigged phone-in competitions involving some of its flagship TV and radio shows, including Blue Peter, Children in Need and Comic Relief. A trailer showing footage of the Queen – wrongly making it seem as if she had stormed out of a photoshoot – cost Peter Fincham, the BBC1 controller, his job and led to Jana Bennett being criticised by an independent probe. While the BBC workforce, which is facing 1,800 job cuts, saw its pay increase by 4% last year, the corporation continues to splurge on star presenters such as Jonathan Ross, left, who earns £6m a year.

AUNTIE'S DEFENCE Look at what rivals get in the private sector
Mark Thompson, the director-general, who waived his bonus but still saw his pay package rise to £816,000, defended the largesse by claiming some executives had increased responsibilities and some bonuses had been cut. He said the wages were “a tiny fraction” of those offered by the private sector. Critics feel the BBC wants the best of both worlds: the benefit of public funding and the rewards of private enterprise. It increasingly blurs the line between public and private with its commercial arm BBC Worldwide, which made record profits of almost £118m last year selling programmes such as Top Gear. Its recent acquisition of a 75% stake in Lonely Planet, a travel guide publisher, led to accusations of “empire building”.

THE BIG PICTURE The licence fee risks becoming an unfair tax
In the multi-channel, multi-media age, should the BBC be so big and expensive? Greg Dyke, former director-general of the corporation, last week described the licence fee as an “unfair tax” that would become harder to justify and collect as more people watch programmes on computer over the internet. Sir Antony Jay, a former BBC editor and co-author of the hit series Yes, Minister, starring Paul Eddington, left, predicts the end of the licence fee and believes the BBC can be “saved” only by slimming down and pursuing a core public service based around BBC1 and Radio 4. Jay argues that the corporation will soon be unable to justify charging viewers for programmes “they can obtain free elsewhere”.

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