THE amount of top talent earning more than £100,000 a year at the BBC has gone up, according to its accounts.

The corporation paid 274 people six figure salaries in 2010/11 – up from 270 the year before.

The figures were released a week after BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten said licence fee payers did not “expect the BBC to pay sky-high commercial rewards to people that work for a public service”.

The report ranks on-air and on-screen talent by paybands but groups everyone earning from £500,000 up to £5 million together.

It shows the BBC paid out around £22m to 19 stars in the top bracket – down from around £26m to 21 people the year before.

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