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Jonathan Ross suspended without pay and Brand resigns

The TV related debate - Birdsong for the rest (October 2008)

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GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
noggin posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
stevek2 posted:
so Mr Woss is suspended without pay for 12 weeks,

with a 6 million pound annual pay cheque for basically being a cocky sod with a speach inpediment I don't think we'll be too upset, considering it takes 43 thousand and 10 pounds worth of licence fees just to pay him Mad :


He doesn't get £6 Million... his company gets £6 Million to make programmes. How much he (and his wife) get from that isn't known but if you subtract the cost of the 30 staff, studio hire etc it's no-where near £6 million


Isn't the production deal separate to the talent deal Inspector Sands? My understanding is that the rumoured £18m is just the talent deal (i.e. salary) - and that once you lump production costs (i.e. pay Ross's independent production company to make the shows that aren't in-house or made by others) into it it comes out at a nearer £35m cost to the BBC. (This may sound a lot - and it is a lot - but it isn't as outrageous when you break it down into "per hour" costs)

Whilst the BBC have docked Ross his salary for 12 weeks, they are still covering the costs of the production company that will have been incurred.

AIUI the BBC usually has separate "talent" deals independent of production deals for shows fronted by BBC names with corporate contracts (rather than deals for just a specific show)


That was my understanding too - based on what I've read on MG etc - but also the BBC's assurance that the production costs will be covered, "without Ross benefiting financially from the arrangement".

I'm Ross won't wait long for another TV deal, but I wonder if it will be anything like £6M per annum following this. If he does end up on Sky he'll certainly not be seen by a large proportion of DCAB viewers.

The Telegraph's Charles Moore is suggesting he will boycott the Licence Fee if and when Ross returns to air.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/11/01/do0102.xml
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Nick Harvey posted:
onetrickpony posted:
Not sure if anyone has heard this yet.

Yes, it was doing the rounds yesterday evening on the 'texting' circuit.


According to one of my text message correspondents, Ross and Brand have been placed on the Sachs offenders register.
BR
Brekkie
noggin posted:
Isn't the production deal separate to the talent deal Inspector Sands? My understanding is that the rumoured £18m is just the talent deal (i.e. salary) - and that once you lump production costs (i.e. pay Ross's independent production company to make the shows that aren't in-house or made by others) into it it comes out at a nearer £35m cost to the BBC. (This may sound a lot - and it is a lot - but it isn't as outrageous when you break it down into "per hour" costs)



One good thing that might come out of this is an end to the BBC offering "golden handcuffs" contracts, something I don't believe the BBC should be doing. "Talent" should be paid on a show by show basis, and that ultimately should save the BBC a few quid too by allowing top stars to top up their earning elsewhere.

It also makes situations like this easier - I'm sure the ideal scenario for the BBC would be to axe Jonathan Ross from his radio show but let him continue with his TV shows - but the fact they're all lumped into one contract makes it difficult for them to do that.
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
Brekkie posted:
It also makes situations like this easier - I'm sure the ideal scenario for the BBC would be to axe Jonathan Ross from his radio show but let him continue with his TV shows - but the fact they're all lumped into one contract makes it difficult for them to do that.


Not if he's broken his terms of contract by bringing the Corporation into disrepute.
BR
Brekkie
Talking of which, how on earth can they punish him when OFCOM and the BBC Trust haven't completed their investigations. What happens if they end up clearing him?
DV
DVB Cornwall
Brekkie posted:
Talking of which, how on earth can they punish him when OFCOM and the BBC Trust haven't completed their investigations. What happens if they end up clearing him?


Seeing as they both admitted offending Sachs by the terms of their respective apologies this does seem somewhat unlikely.
PT
Put The Telly On
I don't know if he will leave the BBC, he will however have to give a public statement on camera or something at least.

Whether him not showing his face is a good thing or not who knows.
ST
stevek2
Steve in Pudsey posted:


According to one of my text message correspondents, Ross and Brand have been placed on the Sachs offenders register.


Laughing

that's good Very Happy
JC
JCB
.David Mitchell's brilliant take on it all.
NG
noggin Founding member
Brekkie posted:


One good thing that might come out of this is an end to the BBC offering "golden handcuffs" contracts, something I don't believe the BBC should be doing. "Talent" should be paid on a show by show basis, and that ultimately should save the BBC a few quid too by allowing top stars to top up their earning elsewhere.


However whilst other companies continue to offer those deals - the BBC either stops making shows in that sector (like those presented by Ross, Norton etc.) or has to offer similar deals to ITV and C4 etc. The advantage the BBC has in these deals is that it can offer both TV and Radio output and a wider range of shows.

I agree that these deals can be controversial - but they are often cheaper than negotiating on a show-by-show basis in the long run, and guarantee exclusivity, so you end up with people associated with your channel without having to be on staff...

Whilst uber-agents and production companies with agencies associated continue to grow - this trend is only likely to continue I suspect...

Quote:

It also makes situations like this easier - I'm sure the ideal scenario for the BBC would be to axe Jonathan Ross from his radio show but let him continue with his TV shows - but the fact they're all lumped into one contract makes it difficult for them to do that.


Possibly if the deal involved includes guaranteed commissions for talent-owned indies - but I don't think they usually do. The talent contract normally guarantees a number of on-screen appearances or days worked in return for the money - whether this is on TV or Radio, or whether it is fully exploited, may be up for question. (AIUI the BBC probably pay Ross for a set number of days worked a year for the talent portion of his contract - whether this is BBC One, BBC Three or Radio Two may not matter?)

Is Ross's Radio Two show an indie as Brand's was?
SP
Spencer
Inspector Sands posted:
If he doesn't return to Radio 2 he'll most likely take his show to Absolute Radio (where it originally started) or one of the big commercial radio groups like the new Heart network


I wouldn't be so sure. Commercial radio is always much more sensitive to presenters breaking the rules than the BBC. I've no doubt had Brand and Ross broadcast the same audio on commercial radio, they'd have been out of the door before their feet touched the ground.

It'll be seen as a brave move for any independent radio boss who takes him on.

Plus his Radio 2 audience figures for Saturday morning aren't anything to shout about.

Quote:
If he drops BBC TV he'll be picked up by another channel pretty sharpish. I did hear a rumour that some of his people have been talking to Sky


Apparently he once came close to signing with Sky but said that if you went on satellite everyone would think you were finished.
IS
Inspector Sands
Spencer For Hire posted:

I wouldn't be so sure. Commercial radio is always much more sensitive to presenters breaking the rules than the BBC. I've no doubt had Brand and Ross broadcast the same audio on commercial radio, they'd have been out of the door before their feet touched the ground.


Some would argue that they'd never have been in that position at most commercial radio stations because the line 'he's f***ed your grand daughter' is unlikely to be written onto a cue card!

The fact is that until the little transgression of a fortnight ago (and it was little, unlike the fuss afterwards) as a guest on someone else's programme - he's been a solid, popular, reliable presenter. Given time for this to blow over he'll be back on radio, somewhere.

Quote:

Apparently he once came close to signing with Sky but said that if you went on satellite everyone would think you were finished.


That is largely true, Noel's stuff didn't really make much of an impact on Sky 1*. Sky in particular do have a habit of signing people/programmes up in a blaze of publicity and then they sink without trace

In terms of BSkyB, he could only really appear on Sky 1 which isn't performing that well or a movie channel which has even fewer viewers - and no-one is going to turn to Sky Movies to watch a programme with Jonathan Ross... they didn't with Barry Norman


*The Jury's still out on Richard & Judy though

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