Post by Teddy Bear on Oct 22, 2006 16:52:38 GMT
This article needs no comment, it says it all:
The lunatics have taken over the corporation, says Wogan in attack on BBC
Chris Hastings and Beth Jones
Last Updated: 11:34pm BST 21/10/2006
For four decades, he has enjoyed a high-profile and lucrative career with the BBC, earning a position as one of its best-known and most-loved stars. But Terry Wogan has launched a savage attack on the corporation for "overpaying" a new generation of television presenters, wasting millions of pounds of licence fee-payers' money in the process.
Writing in a new book of essays about the television industry, Wogan, 68, bluntly observes: "You might say the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
Terry Wogan: 'The industry is buying talent instead of ideas'
"The culture now in television is that the presenter calls the financial and, increasingly, the creative shots. It is comparable to what happened in Hollywood 15 or so years ago. Agents have become far more powerful, and through them the stars are able to dictate their own terms.
"As for those much-trumpeted seven-figure deals, I have the suspicion that the corporation is in some cases over-paying. Their excuse is that if they do not offer millions, the opposition will lure the talent away with honeyed words and equally large sums. Frankly the BBC is often giving huge quantities of money to people who would prefer to work for the corporation anyway. We can all name stars who have been persuaded to cross over from BBC to ITV, and it has ended in tears."
Although Wogan, who received a knighthood in 2005, does not name individual presenters, there was controversy earlier this year when it emerged that Jonathan Ross, the presenter of Film 2006, Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and programmes on Radio 2, had signed a three-year contract worth £18 million.
The deal was agreed after Channel 4 attempted to poach the popular presenter. Ross was yesterday unavailable for comment.
Turning to what he perceives to be the disparity between the salaries of today's television stars and the paucity of programme ideas, Wogan adds: "Broadcasting companies are signing up the artistes without any clear idea of what they are getting them to do.
"In the past, the BBC or ITV would come up with an idea for a series – a sitcom or a chat show, perhaps – and the head of light entertainment would agree to a pilot on the strength of the idea and only at that point ask who they had in mind to do it.
"In other words, the industry is buying talent instead of ideas. The money is being spent in the first instance in the wrong place."
Again, while Sir Terry does not name any individual broadcaster, there has been criticism of the choice of programme for some of the corporation's best-paid presenters.
Commentators have questioned the wisdom of allowing Graham Norton, whose £3.5 million pay package was increased after ITV tried to lure him away from the BBC, to front Strictly Dance Fever, a spin off from the successful Strictly Come Dancing programme. The new programme failed to attract the kind of audience enjoyed by the original. Norton could not be contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, several established BBC stars who have left the corporation have failed to repeat their success on other channels.
Des Lynam, the former presenter of BBC's Grandstand, received a muted reaction when he moved to ITV to front its Champions' League football coverage and last week it was announced that he is to quit his job as presenter of Channel 4's Countdown after just 18 months.
Sir Terry's comments were yesterday welcomed by viewers' groups. John Beyer, the director of Mediawatch UK, which represents the interests of viewers, said: "I think a lot of people agree with him. Some of these million-pound deals are excessive. Licence fee-payers would agree with Terry entirely that the money should be spent on original programmes rather than those on high remuneration deals."
However, critics will point to Wogan's own lucrative contracts with the BBC.
Indeed, in his essay he jokes that he is "worth every penny of the small fortune they deign to pay me".
Although Wogan, who works on a freelance basis, does not provide details of his own remuneration in the essay, he is reputed to earn £800,000 for presenting his breakfast programme on Radio 2.
He has presented a host of successful television programmes, including Blankety Blank, Points of View and his Wogan chat show, and has fronted the corporation's coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest for more than a quarter of a century. He popularised the soap opera Dallas in Britain. He is also a columnist for The Sunday Telegraph.