By LOUISA CLEAVE television editor
Political pressure on TVNZ to cut presenter salaries is starting to tell - its highest-paid employee, Paul Holmes has had $150,000-plus slashed from his pay packet.
TVNZ chairman Dr Ross Armstrong said the reduction in the top salary at TVNZ would not be fully disclosed until the 2002 annual report, although half of the cut would show up in the company's report for the financial year ending on June 30.
He confirmed that the state broadcaster's top earner - widely known to be Holmes - had renegotiated his contract before Christmas.
Holmes was making between $770,000 and $780,000 a year, and the cut, effective from January 1, would have reduced his pay packet to between $616,000 and $624,000.
That means his weekly wage has dropped from between $14,807 and $15,000 to between $11,846 and $12,000 - roughly $2400 for each 30-minute show, or $80 a minute (including ad breaks).
Asked what the presenter's reaction had been, Dr Armstrong said: "Well, no one died."
There has been no suggestion that the pay cut is linked to concern about Holmes' performance.
TV One general manager Shaun Brown told a parliamentary select committee last year that the Holmes show contributed $5 million to $6 million of TVNZ's profit.
But Holmes' salary is not connected to ratings for the show.
The commerce committee, which reviews TVNZ finances annually, last year criticised it for a "culture of exorbitance" over the high salaries it paid to star presenters.
In its report, it said that because New Zealand had only two major competing television companies, the need to offer big pay packets to attract and hold staff was "not on the same basis as larger markets."
Pressure over presenter salaries came to a head when it was revealed that TVNZ had been ordered to pay John Hawkesby $6 million for unfair dismissal.
Soon after he took the position at the TVNZ in February last year, Dr Armstrong warned presenters that their salaries would be cut.
Late last year "second-tier" presenters - such as Mike Hosking, Liz Gunn, Simon Dallow, Alison Mau, Jim Hickey and April Ieremia - were said to be fuming over pay cuts.
The Weekend Herald understands Hickey took a cut in pay and Ieremia lost $30,000 - dropping from $180,000 to $150,000.
In an article written for the Herald defending salaries, Holmes gave 15 reasons why a presenter such as John Hawkesby could command a $750,000-plus salary.
"Information broadcasting at the top level requires rare, special skills," he wrote.
"To sit in front of a camera or microphone and convey your humanity, your heart, your person and your intelligence in such a way that hundreds of thousands of people feel they know you requires something very unusual."
The money newsreaders earn came from revenue, not the taxpayer, he added.
Judy Bailey will be back on screen from Monday after three weeks off with a mild form of meningitis.
TVNZ spokesman Liam Jeory said Bailey had recovered and was looking forward to returning to work.
Dr Armstrong said he would raise with the TVNZ board the possibility of screening Late Edition half an hour earlier.
Public feedback indicated that 10.30 pm was too late, he said.
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