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Sky's the limit as Selina moves onward and upward

Chris Priestley
Thursday 09 October 1997 23:02 BST
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Selina Scott, the woman whose salary had more figures than her talk show had viewers, is reportedly "considering various offers" from broadcasters keen to sign her up in the aftermath of her departure from satellite broadcasters BSkyB.

A spokeswoman for Ms Scott, 46, said it would be inappropriate to talk about the new offers while she negotiates her departure from BSkyB, but claimed that broadcasters in the UK and abroad were interested in signing up the former ITN news reader.

However, industry experts said yesterday that while Ms Scott had tried just about everything in television presenting she will have a hard time matching the pounds 1m a year she was paid to host a chat show on Sky One. "Watch this space," said Caroline Harwood, Ms Scott's assistant.

Ms Harwood said there were no hard feelings between Ms Scott and BSkyB and claimed that her departure had nothing to do with low ratings for her revamped chat show.

Ms Scott was hired last year by outgoing BSkyB chief executive Sam Chisholm to present a nightly celebrity chat show. However the show struggled to attract high-profile guests and at one point viewers had fallen from over 100,000 to 6,000.

Ms Scott's salary has moved inexorably upwards in a career that has seen her move from the north of Scotland ITV broadcaster Grampian to ITN, Breakfast Time, The Clothes Show and to America. Despite her success she has been a repeated target for unkind comment in the British press.

- Paul McCann

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