There is "no gender bias" regarding pay decisions at the BBC, according to a new report into the corporation. But the BBC's approach to setting pay in general "has been far from perfect", auditors PwC found. Their report, published on Tuesday, found a 6.8% gender pay gap among on-air staff.
The BBC said there would be "substantial" pay cuts for some men. Director general Tony Hall said "important issues" had to be tackled.
Unlike the corporation's annual report, which was published last summer and named on-air staff earning more than £150,000, Tuesday's report involves those on air across all pay brackets - a total of 824 people.
The 6.8% pay gap identified in this group was lower than the overall BBC average pay gap of 9.3%. The national average is 18%.
The director general said: "Today's report does not find evidence of gender bias in decision-making. But it shows we have real and important issues to tackle... and I'm determined to get it right."
He added: "The plans we're setting out today go further and are more important steps in modernising the BBC and making it fairer.
"We've already made an important start. We're addressing unfairness in individuals' pay and want to close the gender pay gap and have women in half of our on-air roles by 2020. Those are big, bold commitments I'm really serious about."
Lord Hall also said he wanted to "push forward on our goal of getting 50:50 men and women on air by 2020, I now want to do that quicker".
