This is taken from The Times - you'll need to get a subscription to read the full story:

BBC launches search for cut-price boss
by Ben Webster Media Editor
Last updated January 23 2012 12:01AM

The BBC is to begin searching for its next likely Director-General as it plans to cut “substantially” the salary for the corporation’s top job.

Lord Patten of Barnes, Chairman of the BBC Trust, told The Times that an international firm of headhunters had been appointed to produce the first “succession plan” for the position.

The chosen candidate would be paid much less than the £671,000 salary of the present Director-General, Mark Thompson, he revealed.