How much do the BBC’s top on-screen stars get paid?

And it has made no secret of its opposition to the requirement which it says is likely to cause earning inflation across the television sector.

Live updates below...

12.30pm

Top 10 highest paid BBC stars

1. Chris Evans (£2.2m - £2.25m)

2. Gary Lineker (£1.75m - £1.8m)

3. Graham Norton (£850,000 - £899,999)

4. Jeremy Vine (£700,000 - £749,999)

5. John Humphrys (£600,000 - £649,999)

6. Huw Edwards (£550,000 - £599,999)

7. Steve Wright (£500,000 - £549,999)

= 8. Claudia Winkleman and Matt Baker (£450,000 - £499,999)

= 9. Nicky Campbell, Andrew Marr, Stephen Nolan, Alan Shearer, Alex Jones (£400,000 - £449,999)

= 10. Fiona Bruce, Tess Daly, Vanessa Feltz, Nick Grimshaw, Simon Mayo, Derek Thompson (£350,000 - £399,999)

12.15pm Strictly Come Dancing presenters and judges' pay compared below (note that Claudia Winkleman also hosts a show on BBC Radio 2).

Claudia Winkleman: £450,000-£499,999

Tess Daly: £350,000-£399,999

Len Goodman: £200,000-£249,999

Bruno Tonioli: £200,000-£249,999

Darcey Bussell: £150,000-£199,999

Craig Revel-Horwood: £150,000-£199,999

12.10pm Just to underline the point, this list ONLY includes stars paid directly by the BBC (ie from the licence fee). Shows like Top Gear are supported by commercial organisation BBC Worldwide, and so Matt LeBlanc's pay for example will be partially funded by them. Pay from independent production companies and other broadcasters are not included – so Lineker's pay does not include his contract with BT Sport.

Here's the key wording from the BBC: "These figures exclude amounts from: commercial investments into programmes; any payments made by our commercial entities, such as BBC Worldwide; payments made by independent producers; royalties; and repeat fees. Expenses are also excluded."

12pm More notable absentees: Woman's Hour presenters Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey are not included in the list of stars earning over £150,000.

11.45am Today presenters John Humphrys, Mishal Husain, Nick Robinson and Justin Webb are all included in the list of stars earning over £150,000 – however, their colleague Sarah Montague is not. BBC director-general Tony Hall has said that it would be "wrong" to say the lowest paid broadcaster on Today is a woman. RadioTimes.com understands that this is only the case if you look specifically at their salaries for presenting the Today programme; the published list only includes total pay packages. So, for example, Humphrys also presents Mastermind, while Husain also works as a BBC TV newsreader.

11.26am Outgoing Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi earns between £200,000 and £249,999 in the year to April 2017.

11.19am Following on from earlier reports surrounding the gender pay gap, the list features 62 men and 34 women. Broadcasters such as the Today programme's Sarah Montagu and Newsnight's Emily Maitlis do not make the list – colleagues including John Humphrys, Nick Robinson and Evan Davis do.

The top seven BBC stars incidentally are all male: Chris Evans, Gary Lineker, Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine, John Humphrys, Huw Edwards and Steve Wright. Strictly Come Dancing and Radio 2 presenter Claudia Winkleman is the highest paid female BBC star, earning between £450,000 and £499,999.

11.16am While BBC drama stars are not included on the list, soap stars in shows such as EastEnders and Casualty are listed. Here are the full list of salaries below.

11.12am If you're looking for how much drama stars are paid, prepare to be disappointed. Stars such as Poldark's Aidan Turner are not employed directly by the BBC, and are instead paid by independent production companies.

11.10am: There are 96 names on the list in total earning more than £150,000. See the full list below.

11am: first impressions...

UPDATE: the list of BBC presenter salaries has been published. Read the full list below.

TV NON-SCRIPTED (FACTUAL & ENTERTAINMENT)

£150,000 - £199,999

Darcey Bussell - Contributor

Mel Giedroyc - Presenter

Craig Horwood - Contributor

Paul Martin – Presenter

Simon Schama - Presenter

£200,000 - £249,999

Gary Barlow - Contributor

Len Goodman - Contributor

Dannii Minogue - Contributor

Bruno Tonioli - Contributor

Alan Yentob - Presenter

£300,000 - £349,999

Nick Knowles - Presenter

£350,000 - £399,999

Tess Daly - Presenter

£400,000 - £449,999

Alex Jones - Presenter

NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

£150,00 - £199,999

Kamal Ahmed - Correspondent

Jeremy Bowen - Correspondent

Ben Brown - Presenter

Mark Easton - Presenter

Gavin Esler - Presenter

James Naughtie - Correspondent and Presenter

John Pienaar - Correspondent

Sophie Raworth - Presenter

John Simpson - Correspondent

Kirsty Wark - Presenter

Justin Webb - Presenter

£200,000 - £249,999

Victoria Derbyshire - Presenter

Mishal Husain - Presenter

Martha Kearney - Presenter

Laura Kuenssberg - Correspondent

Andrew Neil - Presenter

Jonathan Sopel - Correspondent

£250,000 - £299,999

George Alagiah - Presenter

Nicholas Robinson - Presenter

£300,000 - £349,999

Eddie Mair - Presenter

RADIO

£150,000 - £199,999

Adrian Chiles - Presenter

Greg James - Presenter

Shaun Keaveny - PResenter

Moira Stuart - Presenter

Jo Whiley - Presenter

£200,000 - £249,999

Mark Radcliffe – Presenter

£250,000 - £299,999

Ken Bruce – Presenter

Scott Mills – Presenter

Trevor Nelson – Presenter

£300,000 - £349,999

Lauren Laverne - Presenter

£350,000 - £399,999

Vanessa Feltz - Presenter

Nicholas Grimshaw - Presenter

Simon Mayo - Presenter

£400,000 - £449,999

Nicky Campbell - Presenter

£500,000 - £549,999

Steve Wright

SPORT

£150,000 - £199,999

Jonathan Agnew - Presenter and commentator

Claire Balding - Presenter

Jonathan Davies - Contributor

John McEnroe - Presenter and commentator

£200,000 - £249,999

John Inverdale – Presenter

Gabby Logan – Presenter

£250,000 - £299,999

Jason Mohammad – Presenter

£300,000 - £349,999

Sue Barker – Presenter

£400,000 - £449,999

Alan Shearer – Presenter

£1,750,000 - £1,799,999

Gary Lineker – Presenter

TV SCRIPTED (DRAMA AND COMEDY)

£150,000 - £199,999

Laurie Brett – Actor

Letitia Dean – Actor

Tameka Empson – Actor and Contributor

Guy Henry – Actor

Linda Henry – Actor

Scott Maslen – Actor

Diane Parish – Actor

Hugh Quarshie – Actor

Jemma Redgrave – Actor

Tim Roth – Actor

Catherine Shipton – Actor

Gillian Taylforth – Actor

Lacey Turner – Actor

£200,000 - £249,999

Peter Capaldi – Actor

Danny Dyer – Actor

Emilia Fox – Actor

David Jason – Actor

Rosie Marcel – Actor

Adam Woodyatt – Actor

£250,000 - £299,999

Amanda Mealing – Actor

£350,000 - £399,999

Derek Thompson – Actor

MULTI-GENRE

£150,000 - £199,999

Naga Munchetty – Presenter and Contributor

£200,000 - £249,999

Mark Chapman – Prsenter

Jools Holland – Presenter

Dan Walker – Presenter

£250,000 - £299,999

Zoe Ball – Presenter

Brian Cox – Presenter

Evan Davis – Presenter

£350,000 - £399,999

Fiona Bruce – Presenter

£400,000 - £449,999

Andrew Marr – Presenter

Stephen Nolan – Presenter

£450,000 - £499,999

Matt Baker – Commentator and Presenter

Claudia Winkleman – Presenter

£550,000 - £599,999

Huw Edwards – Presenter

£600,000 - £649.999

John Humphrys – Prsenter

£700,000 - £749,999

Jeremy Vine – Presenter

£850,000 - £899,999

Graham Norton – Presenter

£2,200,000 - £2,249,999

Chris Evans – Presenter

10.51am The full list will be published here at 11am.

10.15am Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has been jabbing his BBC Breakfast rival Dan Walker about the upcoming salary publication.

Dan Walker gave him short shrift.

10am With the BBC salary list set to be revealed at 11am, high profile BBC presenters are preparing for the announcement – including Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who has said he is looking for his "tin helmet".

He also revealed he had turned down higher offers from privately owned broadcasters in order to continue working with the BBC. The presenter also currently works with BT Sport mid-week on their Champions League coverage, and has also presented for broadcaster Al Jazeera.

Analysis by Ben Dowell

With the news to be made public at 11am on Wednesday 19th July along with the BBC's annual report, speculation has already been rife with many newspapers and websites following up RadioTimes.com’s disclosure about suspected anxiety at the very top of the BBC about a potential gender pay gap in earnings.

The BBC has already admitted that a disparity between male and female BBC employees will emerge when the figures are finally released.

Director general Tony Hall has apologised to staff for the fact that the figures will show that two thirds of the BBC's top earners are men.

"At the moment, of the talent earning over £150,000, two-thirds are men and one-third are women. Is that where we want to be? No. Are we pushing further and faster than any other major broadcaster? Most certainly," Hall reportedly said in an internal staff video.

He added: “We need to employ the very best. They help make the BBC what it is. That’s the business we’re in. And of course, we’re in a market that is now even more competitive than ever. A decade ago it might have been just ITV or Sky or commercial radio. But now it’s Netflix, Amazon or Apple.

“But of course we all appreciate that we are dealing with the public’s money. We’re talking about what, to lots of people, are large sums. This is not something we can take lightly. That’s why we always try to pay people at a discount to the market. It’s why the bill for top talent is down by 10% year on year – down by a quarter over the last five years. And the amount we pay the very highest earners has dropped by 40% over the same period.

“We’re not afraid to walk away if money becomes an issue. That’s one of the reasons we’re the biggest investor in new British talent there is.”

The director general told the Today programme on Wednesday morning that the figures will show that 96 people earn £150,000 or more – down from 109 from last year's annual report when the pay figures were not released.

The salaries will be published in £50,000 bands, with the 96 earners taking home a total of £29m last year, Hall confirmed, a reduction of just under £2m from the previous year.

One particular area of possible scrutiny is believed to be news presenting where the roster includes an array of big names stars such as newsreaders Huw Edwards and Fiona Bruce and political editor Laura Kuenssberg.

It has been reported that Kuenssberrg earns between £300,000 and £350,000 with Graham Norton believed to top the overall list at around the £2.5m mark.

The BBC has not commented on the figures ahead of publication but denied the suggestions about the gender pay gap.

“We don’t recognise this story and people should wait and see what the data actually says rather than relying on uninformed gossip – people might be surprised,” a senior source told RadioTimes.com last week.

The source added that “the BBC has a good record compared with others” when it comes to pay equality.

The BBC has had nearly a year to prepare the information having been notified last September by culture secretary Karen Bradley that it must make public the salaries of its on-air talent who earn more than £150,000.

The new stipulation for on-air talent is believed to encompass more than 100 of its best-known names. In all, 109 TV and radio presenters earned more than £150,000 according to the last BBC annual report.

The good news for the BBC is that the potential embarrassment of the pay figures will only last one year.

Salaries for star news presenters and journalists will be capped following a review of pay in news.

The Corporation has also reportedly been moving BBC presenters on to the accounts of its production arm BBC Studios.

This means that the earnings paid out by BBC Studios is to be private after it was launched as a commercial business earlier this year. However the move will have no impact on Radio and News presenters so those salaries will continue to be disclosed year on year.