This is how BBC top stars' pay compares to salaries at ITV and Sky

Some presenters working for privately-owned companies are reportedly paid significantly more

The BBC has ignited a sexism row after revealing a large gender pay gap amongst its top stars’ salaries, but how does it compare to what privately-owned broadcasters are handing their presenters?

Adam Boulton, Sky’s best-known news presenter was widely rumoured to be paid upwards of £400,000 a year in his former role as political editor, which he had occupied since establishing Sky News’ political team in 1989.

That’s less than BBC’s highest paid newsreader Huw Edwards who is on £500,000-549,999, but more than Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor since July 2015, who is paid between £200,000 and £249,999.

Nick Robinson, who held the position before Ms Kuenssberg, now earns between £250,000 and £299,000 as a presenter on the Today Programme. Former ITV news anchor Mark Austin, who left the channel in December, was rumoured to have picked up a £300,000 salary when he joined in 2005.

Breakfast presenters are apparently being paid more in the private sector, however. Susannah Reid was reportedly awarded a £1m salary for Good Morning Britain when she made the move from the BBC in 2014, but sources within the programme told the Guardian that she was earning less than half that.

Even the lower figure apparently far exceeds what the BBC pays presenters on its breakfast news show. Neither Charlie Stayt nor Louise Minchin appear on the list of those earning over £150,000.

ITV is apparently less generous than the BBC when it comes to actors. Among the channel’s biggest earners is Jack P Shepherd, 29, who is paid £200,000 a year for his role as Coronation Street bad boy David Platt, according to the Sun.

Bill Roache, who has played Ken Barlow on ITV’s flagship soap since 1960, is also reported to be earnings a similar figure to Mr Shepherd’s, as is the show’s highest-earning female star, Barbara Knox, who plays Rita Tanner.

The figures are dwarfed by the pay packet of Derek Thompson, who plays Charlie Fairhead in BBC hospital drama Casualty. He receives between £350,000 and £399,999 per year.

Amanda Mealing, who also stars in Casualty as well as Holby City, is the corporation's highest paid actress but receives significantly less - somewhere between £250,000 and £299,999. The BBC paid EastEnders actors Danny Dyer and Adam Woodyatt £200,000-£249,999 last year.

Long-time Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker is the highest paid star at the BBC after Chris Evans, with a £1,750,000 to £1,799,999 salary. This is slightly more than Sky Sports football pundit Gary Neville, who was reportedly handed a £1.5m-a-year contract when he rejoined the channel last year after a disastrous spell as manager of Spanish football club Valencia.

Adrian Chiles, who fronted ITV’s football coverage between 2010 and 2015 earned £4.6m in 2013, according to his company’s accounts. That included a widely reported £1.5m-a-year deal from ITV, which was cut to £500,000 in 2014. He is now back at the BBC and paid between £150,000 and £199,999.

When it comes to the pay of the executives running the company, ITV’s latest accounts suggest it is tightening its belt. The company said it is introducing a base salary and benefits cap for executive directors of 40 per cent, with 15 per cent of that related to the company’s financial performance and 25 per cent personal performance.

Recently departed director Adam Crozier was paid a base salary of £941,000 last year as part of total remuneration of £3.44m. That’s less than the £3.9m he was awarded in the previous year and less than half of the £8.4m he collected in 2013.

ITV will pay its first ever female chief executive, Carolyn McCall, who was appointed on Monday, a lower base salary of £900,000.

Chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette earns £312,000 and the other six non-executive directors salaries total £593,000 for their part-time roles.

By comparison the BBC’s director general, Tony Hall is paid between £450,00 and £499,999. Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch pocketed £17.9m in the year to June 2015. That came despite 22.6 per cent of Sky shareholders voting against the £7m the company handed him in 2013. He saw his earnings fall to £4.7m last year.