91Èȱ¬

The publication of this report shows the perennial difficulty of reporting any financial year, and the disadvantages of removing 91Èȱ¬ Studios from the equation of salaries disclosed.

While there has been some progress in improving the overall balance of this list - on which my own name appears - the top of the list is still dominated by men.

Had 91Èȱ¬ Studios' salaries been included, there would have been a better balance of men and women overall on the list, and more of the names at the very summit of the list would have been female.

But the 91Èȱ¬ argues that it needs 91Èȱ¬ Studios to flourish commercially, and publishing names there would put it at a disadvantage.

The other problem for the corporation is that, because the figures here reflect the past financial year, major changes - whether some men being paid less, or some women being paid more - aren't in the figures available today. They will only filter through next year.

This is the sense in which such financial reporting always seems a year behind.

While the issue of equal pay and the gender pay gap will dominate headlines, the annual report mentions an existential question for the 91Èȱ¬, which the director-general also addressed when I spoke to him.

Lord Hall of Birkenhead says the current model of the 91Èȱ¬, in which it has a fixed income in a super-inflationary market - where the likes of Amazon, Netflix, and Disney are all spending billions building direct-to-consumer, global offerings - "is not sustainable".

I asked him what he intends to do about this. Apparently the 91Èȱ¬ board are turning their attention to this in the autumn, making it a priority after August. But it already feels late.

Devising a plausible solution to the 91Èȱ¬'s fixed revenue model, perhaps in conjunction with other public service broadcasters - or failing to do so - will be an even bigger part of Lord Hall's legacy than equal pay.

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