Jonathan Ross has announced that he will not be renewing his always controversial deal with the BBC. There has been much speculation of late as to how much of a pay cut Ross would take when his current multi-million deal came up for renewal in July, given all the political pressure on the Beeb over its overly-high talent pay packages, and in particular Ross's arrangement. As previously reported, another big BBC name, Graham Norton, has agreed to take a cut of half a million a year on his new deal.

As it is, Ross has opted for a 100% pay cut. Or no pay cut. Depending how you look at it. Still, he insists his decision to leave the BBC and all his shows on its networks has nothing to do with money.

He said in a statement this morning: "Over the last two weeks I have decided not to re-negotiate when my current [BBC] contract comes to an end. I would like to make it perfectly clear that no negotiations ever took place and that my decision is not financially motivated. I signed my current contract with the BBC having turned down more lucrative offers from other channels because it was where I wanted to be and – as I have said before – would happily have stayed there for any fee they cared to offer, but there were other considerations".