Jonathan Ross 'decided not to renegotiate' BBC contract, and says move motivated by 'other considerations' than money

Jonathan Ross has quit the BBC.

The corporation's highest-paid star announced today that he is leaving after 13 years.

Ross, who hosted his own BBC1 chatshow, Radio 2 show and a film review programme, has been at the centre of controversy in recent years, over his pay deal, said to be worth £6m a year, and the Sachsgate row, after he and Russell Brand left abusive messages on Andrew Sachs's answerphone.

Ross, 49, said in a statement that he would quit his BBC1 talkshow, his Radio 2 Saturday morning programme and his late-night film programme when his contracted ended in July, but would continue to host the Baftas and other specials.

He said: "Over the last two weeks I have decided not to renegotiate when my current 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."

He said he was quitting all his regular shows but would continue to make some specials: "I love making my Friday night talkshow, my Saturday morning radio show and the film programme, and will miss them all. I look forward to continuing work on these shows until the summer, and I will continue hosting the Bafta Film Awards, Comic Relief and other BBC specials."

At his London home, Ross today said he "would have liked" to have stayed at the BBC.

Speaking to reporters outside his north London house, he said: "It has been a great 13 years at the BBC. I think it's not a bad time for me to move on. It's possibly not a bad time for them either."

Delivering mugs of tea to the 20-strong press pack who had been gathered outside his home he added: "It's been terrific and I would love to stay and make more shows but I have got six months left and I am going to go back and try and make the best shows of my career for them."

Accompanied by his teenage daughters Betty Kitten and Honey Kinney and a friend, Ross then asked journalists to leave his family in peace.

Ross foreshadowed his dramatic statement, released to the Press Association this morning, with a comment on his Twitter feed: "Good morning. My day is turning out to be far more interesting then I had anticipated! See you later – have a good one."

At 11.20am Ross posted again, saying: "Hello again. Thanks for all the kind words about my decision. I feel sad that i can't keep making the shows so many of you love!"

It is thought that Ross had become frustrated by the lack of progress on his new BBC contract and exasperated by constant press speculation about his future with the corporation in the wake of the Ross-Brand scandal, according to industry sources.

Graham Norton, who has signed a new two-year deal with the corporation, has been tipped to take over his BBC1 chatshow, while BBC Radio 5 Live film pundit Mark Kermode appears to be a ready-made replacement for Ross's BBC1 film review show.

It is less than a month since Ross met with senior BBC management and offered to take a 50% pay cut which would have cut his salary to about £3m a year. But talks have not progressed beyond that point and the two parties did not enter serious negotiations about a new deal.

"They had a brief meeting before Christmas – 'Hi, how are you, we should talk' – and nothing has happened since," said a source.

"Jonathan had a gut feeling on this. Ninety per cent of the rumours you read about him are not true."

Jana Bennett, the director of BBC Vision, said in a statement that she "understood" why Ross had decided to leave.

"Jonathan Ross has told us that he's decided not to pursue the renewal of his contract with the BBC," she said.

"Jonathan is an extremely talented broadcaster and his programmes for BBC TV and radio have been a great success. However, it's been a difficult year for him and I understand why he feels it's the right thing to do."

Bennett said she was pleased Ross would continue working for the BBC for the next six months until his contract ended and delighted that he would continue to present the Baftas and other specials.

There had been renewed speculation yesterday that the BBC might part with its star presenter, as it was revealed that Graham Norton was taking a pay cut in his new two-year deal with the corporation.

Sources close to Ross said the star had already had offers from US TV, as well as commercial channels in the UK including ITV and Channel 4. A spokesman for ITV said that the broadcaster had not made any offers to Ross, although sources say that the door is not closed on Ross projects.

A senior TV producer said: "Jonathan had an £18m millstone hanging around his neck which he was never going to get away from. Sachsgate was a symptom of the general malaise that was already present.

"The most stupid thing he ever did was his remark about being worth 1,000 BBC journalists. He took the money and [it was the beginning of] a lengthy and slow death in his current BBC career.

"Even if he had taken a big pay cut it would still have been a huge amount of money. I don't think he'll go to one particular broadcaster, I think he'll do lots of different things. Let's face it, he's got plenty of money. Everyone will move on.

"What's interesting will be how he deals with the next series [of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross]. He's not good at keeping his mouth shut. It's going to be a tricky one. The series runs all the way up to the end of his contract."

The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, is said by industry insiders not to be a fan of Ross. Given the events of the past 18 months, this is perhaps not too much of a surprise.

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