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Radio broadcasters Jeremy Vine and John
Humphrys, news anchor Huw Edwards and North America editor Jon
Sopel had all agreed either formally or in principle to salary
cuts, the BBC said on its website.
The broadcaster was forced to disclose last year that two thirds
of the highest earners on air were men.
Funded by a license fee levied on TV viewers, the BBC is closely
scrutinized and held to exacting standards by the public and
rival media. The pay disclosures, which it had resisted,
highlighted a broader debate about gender inequality.
Director-General Tony Hall pledged to close the gender pay gap
by 2020, but the organization has been criticized by its own
journalists and by lawmakers for not acting fast enough.
Its China editor Carrie Gracie, who was paid significantly less
than her male counterparts, resigned her role last month to
fight against what she called the "secretive and illegal BBC pay
culture".
North America editor Sopel, one of the four who had agreed to a
salary cut, earned between 200,000 pounds and 249,999 pounds
($285,100-$356,373) in 2016/17, the disclosures showed.
Gracie said she was paid 135,000 pounds a year as China editor.
The highest paid of the four was Jeremy Vine, who earned between
700,000 pounds and 749,999 pounds for radio and TV work. Today
radio program presenter Humphrys earned between 600,000 pounds
and 649,999 pounds, while news anchor Edwards was paid between
550,000 pounds and 599,999 pounds.
The BBC said the level of the cuts was not yet known.
Tony Hall and Carrie Gracie will be questioned by a committee of
lawmakers on Wednesday about BBC pay.
($1 = 0.7015 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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