Jonathan Ross is worth £18m salary says BBC chairman

The chairman of the BBC today stood up for highly paid presenters such as Jonathan Ross saying they are good value for money.

Michael Lyons said he knew the public was concerned about some high salaries but that quality actors and presenters were rare.

He said an independent report into salaries, published today, found the BBC does not pay more for its stars than other broadcasters.

The BBC Trust commissioned the report after the salaries of many of its top names - including Jonathan Ross, Terry Wogan and Graham Norton - were made public. Ross, who presents his own chat show, is believed to be paid £18 million over three years. Norton is said to be paid more than £2 million a year and Wogan is rumoured to be on just under £1 million.

Mr Lyons said: "The main findings are these: the BBC does not generally pay more for talent than the wider market, and in some cases it pays less; the way it pays stars is not driving salary inflation in the market as a whole; and there are systems in place to safeguard value for money.

"Understandably, many people will continue to ask how the BBC can justify paying such high salaries, particularly at a time of financial pressure. The answer is complex, and - as always with very large salaries - hard to accept.

"I hope I can give licence-fee payers assurance that the BBC is working hard to meet its obligations both to deliver quality and to keep the cost of its talent under control."

Mr Lyons admitted some high-paid presenters are disliked by audiences.

Writing in The Times, he said: "The BBC has to be prepared to walk away from deals that do not offer good value to the audience, and has to equip itself to do so by widening the pool of talent available - although that's definitely not to say that big-name talent has no place on the BBC.

"Finally, we accept that people and shows can polarise opinion; even the most popular performers will face antipathy. Indeed, for some, this tension forms part of their act."

The report comes after the BBC defended salaries at a Commons select committee last year.

The corporation's director general Mark Thompson said a BBC which did not secure big stars would not please the public.

The BBC pay review was carried out by economists Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates and is published today.