Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts got a 4% raise in 2021, with total compensation of $34 million, fueled mainly by a 27% gain in stock awards for the year.

Roberts’ annual salary actually dipped 5% to $3.2 million from $3.4 million in the prior year, but a 27% increase in stock awards -- from $10.6 million to $13.5 million -- helped lift the media chief’s total compensation for the year.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who oversees the company’s content unit, including its streaming service Peacock, got the biggest lift in total compensation -- 30% -- as his 2021 haul rose to $21.6 million from $16.5 million in the prior year. Shell also saw a slight decline in salary, by 4% to $2.5 million, while a 48.6% increase in stock awards (to $5.5 million from $3.7 million) and a 67% increase in the value of his nonequity incentive plan compensation (to $9.9 million from $5.9 million) more than made up the difference. 

Peacock ended 2021 with 24.5 million monthly active users, about three-quarters of the way towards its 2024 goal of 30 million to 35 million users. The streamer said it would double its content spend in 2022 to $3 billion. NBCUniversal as a whole saw revenue rise 26% in 2021 to $34.3 billion.  

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson made $22.7 million in 2021, a 15.5% increase over the prior year. Watson’s salary rose 10% for the year to $2.2 million from $2 million, but the biggest increase came in stock awards (60% to $6.7 million) and a 51% increase in nonequity incentive plan compensation ($8.9 million from $5.9 million). 

Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh’s total compensation rose 8.3% for the year to $27.4 million, including $10.1 million in stock awards (a 44% increase) and $8.6 million in nonequity incentive plan compensation. ■

Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge received total compensation of $41.9 million in 2021, about an 8% increase over the $38.8 million he took home in the prior year.

According to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, Rutledge’s base salary increased to $2.5 million from $2.1 million in the prior year. His stock option awards remained constant at $30 million, while non-equity incentive plan compensation rose 41% to $8.9 million from $6.3 million for the year. 

Chief product and technology officer Rich DiGeronimo saw his total compensation rise 35% to $8.9 million from $6.6 million in the prior year, fueled by increases in option awards and non-equity compensation. 

Also: Charter’s Starting Minimum Wage Reaches $20 Per Hour Company-Wide

Senior executive vice president David Ellen’s total compensation dipped 13% to $9.4 million from $10.8 million in 2020, mainly due to a decrease in option awards from $6.75 million in 2020 to $4.725 million in 2021.

Chief operating officer Christopher Winfrey’s total compensation remained stable at around $11.7 million for the year. 

Vice chairman John Bickham received about $7.5 million in total compensation in 2021 according to the proxy, down from $36.5 million in the prior year. Bickham said he would retire from the company at the end of this year.

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts saw his total compensation dip about 10% in 2020 to $32.7 million from $36.4 million in the prior year, the result of lower incentives and a change in the interest gained on his pension awards. 

Roberts’ base salary rose slightly to $3.4 million from $3.3 million, and though his stock awards and option awards nearly doubled to $10.58 million and $10.6 million, respectively, those gains were nearly erased by declines in the interest gained on his pension. 

According to Comcast’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission April 23, the interest gained on Roberts’ pension was $150,134 in 2020, compared to $7.6 million in the prior year. Other compensation -- which includes contributions to retirement plans and personal use of company aircraft -- was significantly less, dropping to about $200,158 from $4.9 million in the prior year. 

Also Read: Comcast Touts 4G Speeds from DOCSIS 4 Device

Roberts also saw his non-equity incentives decline from $9.9 million in 2019 to $7.7 million in 2020.

Chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh’s total compensation dipped about 5.8% to $25.25 million from $26.8 million, mainly due to a decline in “other” compensation. Cavanagh received $62,088 in other compensation in 2020, compared to $2.28 million in 2021.

 Jeff Shell, who was named CEO of NBCUniversal last year, received $16.5 million in total compensation in 2020, including a base salary of $2.6 million, stock and option awards of $3.7 million each, respectively and a non-equity incentives valued at $5.9 million. There was no comparison in the proxy to the previous year. 

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson was the only senior executive who saw an overall increase in compensation, with his total take rising 16.7% to $19.7 million from $16.9 in the previous year. Watson, who received 100% of his annual bonus due to record performance at the cable unit, got a  big lift in non-equity incentive compensation (to $5.9 million from $4.6 million). His stock awards and option awards rose nearly $1 million each in the period, to $4.2 million each, respectively. 

All four executives also donated 100% of their salaries from April 1 to Sept. 30 to charities supporting COVID-19 relief efforts. According to the proxy, that amounted to $1.7 million for Roberts, $1.2 million for Cavanagh; $1 million for Watson and $1.25 million for Shell. 

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei saw his total compensation rise about 7% in 2020 to $47.1 million from $44 million, fueled mostly by stock awards and other incentive payments, according to the company’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission April 14. 

Maffei’s annual base salary fell 27% to $871,880 in 2020, compared to $1.2 million in the prior year, but he received a big bump in his stock awards -- $8.3 million compared to $3.6 million in 2019. Maffei also received $11.3 million in non-equity incentives in 2020, compared to $8.4 million in 2019.

Other Liberty Media executives saw even bigger increases in total compensation. Chief Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer Brian Wendling received $2.4 million in total compensation for the year, an 85% increase over the $1.3 million he received in 2019. Chief Corporate Development Officer Albert Rosenthaler received a 45% increase in total compensation to $4.5 million from $2.6 million in the prior year, while Chief Legal Officer Renee Wilm’s total haul stayed constant at $2.9 million for the year.  

Liberty Media chairman John Malone’s total compensation dipped 22% to $1.09 million from $1.4 million in the prior year.  

Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen, long one of the lowest paid CEOs in the media industry, broke that mold Friday after the satellite giant revealed the executive received his biggest payday yet, $94.8 million, fueled mainly by one time stock options, according to its annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Ergen, whose 2020 base salary was 11% lower at $888,000 than the $1 million he received in the prior year, made up that difference and more with option awards of $91.9 million. Overall, including nearly $2 million in “other compensation,” Ergen received $94.8 million, nearly 40 times the $2.4 million he received in 2019. 

Also Read: Dish to Purchase Republic Wireless

Dish CEO Erik Carlson ended 2020 with $3.3 million in total compensation, more than three-times the $1 million he received in 2019. Option awards of $2.4 million fueled most of that growth.

Executive VP and chief financial officer Paul Orban’s total compensation fell to $1.1 million from $1.6 million in the prior year. Dish chief operating officer, executive VP and group president retail wireless John Swieringa’s compensation was down slightly in 2020 to $1 million from $1.02 million in the prior year.

Also Read: Dish: No Partner Needed for 5G Wireless Dance

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar received total compensation of $52.2 million in 2020, mostly in the form of stock awards that will vest over a four-year period, according to parent AT&T’s annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.  

Kilar, a founder of online video pioneer Hulu, was hired to take the helm of WarnerMedia in May, about a  month before the launch of its HBO Max streaming service. Kilar overhauled the content unit, shaking up the management ranks and upending traditional theatrical movie windows by releasing all of Warner Bros. Studios' 2021 film slate on streaming and in theaters on the same day.

According to the proxy statement, AT&T offered Kilar a generous compensation package “with a heavier mix of stock-based awards'' to attract him to the job and to provide an incentive to create shareholder value. AT&T’s compensation committee, with the advice of a compensation consultant, arrived at a package including $2.5 million in annual base salary (he received $1.7 million in 2020), $2.5 million in annual short-term incentives and $48 million in restricted stock awards. While those stock awards were included in his 2020 compensation, they vest over a four-year period, putting their actual annual value at about $12 million. Overall, AT&T said it expects Kilar’s total annual compensation to work out to about $17 million annually.

Other AT&T executives saw their pay decline in 2020, mainly through voluntary reductions tied to the pandemic. 

AT&T CEO John Stankey gave up 50% of his base salary between July 1 and Dec. 31 to help ease the pain of the COVID-19 lockdowns, but still managed to take in more than $21 million in total compensation in 2020, according to the proxy statement. 

Stankey’s base salary fell to $2.05 million in 2020 (down 29.3% from $2.9 million in 2019), but a 42% rise in stock awards to $13.5 million helped lessen the overall compensation blow. All in, Stankey received $21.02 million in total compensation in 2020, down 6% from the $22.5 million he received in the prior year.

Former AT&T executive chairman Randall Stephenson, who also pledged to give up 50% of his base salary in July, finished the year with $29.2 million in total compensation, down 8.8% from $32.03 million in the prior year.  Stephenson’s base salary was halved to $900,000 from $1.8 million in the prior year, and his stock awards ticked up slightly (6%) to $21 million in the period. Stephenson retired on Jan. 21 and former Federal Communications Commission chairman William Kennard took his place.  

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $36.4 million in total compensation in 2019, a nearly 4% increase over the prior year, according to its annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Roberts’ annual base salary rose slightly to $3.3 million from $3.2 million in the prior year, and his stock and option awards remained steady at about $5.3 million each.

Roberts, along with chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Sky plc chief Jeremy Darroch pledged their 2020 salaries to various charitable organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition, Comcast has devoted about $500 million to support its employees through continued pay and benefits where operations have been paused or impacted by COVID-19, and has committed significant resources to support its customers.

According to the proxy statement, Cavanagh received the biggest increase among top executives at the company, with total compensation of $26.8 million, up 23% from the $21.7 million he received in 2018. That gain was mainly fueled by a 71% rise in stock awards to $6.7 million from $3.9 million in the prior year.

NBCUniversal chairman Steve Burke, who stepped down as CEO in January and said he would retire in August, received $42.6 million in total compensation in 2019, up 7% from the $39.9 he received in the prior year.

Watson’s total compensation rose 14% to $16.9 million from $14.8 in the prior year, while senior executive vice president Dave Cohen got a 5% raise, with total compensation of $20 million in 2019, compared to $19.1 million in the prior year. 

Viacom and CBS mapped out the compensation structures of several top executives late Monday, with ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish in line to receive a 55% boost in total compensation, and his No. 2 -- CBS chairman and CEO Joe Ianniello set to receive $70 million as consolation for being passed over for the top job.

CBS and Viacom agreed to merge in an all-stock deal on Aug. 13 that will value the combined company at about $30 billion. When the deal closes, expected by the end of the year, CBS shareholders will own 61% of the new ViacomCBS, with Viacom shareholders owning the remainder.

This is the third time Viacom and CBS have attempted to combine since splitting in 2006. In the past the companies have cited a failure to agree on valuation as the main reason for scrapping deals in 2016 and 2018. But with the industry continuing to consolidate and other programmers moving to launch their own direct-to-consumer offerings, the pressure to add scale has increased.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Aug. 19, current Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who will become CEO of the combined ViacomCBS when the deal closes by the end of the year, could receive as much as $31.5 million in annual compensation, a 55% increase over the $19.9 million he received in fiscal 2018. According to the filing, Bakish’s four-year deal includes a base salary of $3.1 million and he will be eligible for annual equity grants worth up to $16 million and cash bonuses of up to $12.4 million per year.

Ianniello, who has served as acting CEO of CBS since former network chairman and CEO Les Moonves was ousted amid a sexual harassment scandal, will become chairman and CEO of CBS after the deal closes. According to the filing, Ianniello will receive the same compensation he agreed to in April, when the broadcaster extended his employment deal through 2021. As part of that extension, CBS reportedly agreed to pay Ianniello $70 million if he was passed over for the top spot in any “corporate event,” including a merger of CBS with Viacom. Ianniello also will receive 450,000 new restricted stock units in ViacomCBS after the deal closes. That could be worth more than $30 million, if the stock trades in the $68 per share range, as anticipated by some analysts.

Former Showtime chief financial officer Christina Spade will become CFO of the combined entity, with an annual base salary of $1.4 million and a bonus target of up to 200% of that base. She is also eligible to receive annual awards under the company’s long-term incentive plan, with a target of $3.4 million.

CBS and Viacom also have agreed to break-up fees if the deal is not completed. According to the filing, Viacom will have to pony up $373 million to CBS if it terminates the deal before May 13, 2020. CBS would have to pay Viacom $560 million if it cancels the merger before that date.

The combined company’s board of directors will have 13 members -- six from CBS -- Candace K. Beinecke, Barbara M. Byrne, Brian Goldner, Linda M. Griego, Susan Schuman and Frederick O. Terrell -- and four from Viacom -- Judith McHale, Ronald Nelson, Charles E. Phillips, Jr. and Nicole Seligman. Three directors will be designated by the company’s largest shareholder, National Amusements -- ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone, Robert Klieger and Bakish. 

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received a 7.8% increase in total compensation in 2018, raking in $35.03 million for the year, according to the company’s annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.

Roberts’ base salary stayed about the same at $3.2 million, but he received a $1.6 million increase in non-equity incentive plan compensation to $10.7 million from $9.1 million in the prior year. The increase was a change from 2017, when Roberts’ total compensation stayed flat at $32.5 million.

NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke saw his pay dip by 14% to $39.96 million in 2018, mainly because he received fewer option awards for the year. Burke received about $5.4 million in option awards in 2018, down from the $15.4 million he received in the prior year.

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson got the biggest increase -- a 30.5% raise to $14.75 million -- mainly tied to an increase in non-equity incentives. Watson, who was named Cable CEO in April 2017, after former Cable CEO Neil Smit retired, received $4.2 million in non-equity compensation in 2018, up from $2.4 million in the previous year.

Other executives got similar raises -- chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh received $21.7 million in total compensation, up 7.7%, and senior executive vice president David Cohen received $19.1 million, up 7.9% from the prior year.

Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge it a 5% raise in 2018, reeling in $8.2 million in total compensation, mainly via an increase in his non-equity incentives for the year, according to the company's annual proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rutledge’s base salary stayed the same at $2 million, but his non-equity incentive plan compensation rose 3.6% from $5.5 million in 2017 to $5.7 million in 2018. He received $419,152 in "other" compensation, nearly double the $233,763 he received the year before.

Other executives has similarly small increases, with president and chief operating officer John Bickham actually making slightly less in 2018 than in the prior year. Bickham’s total compensation in 2018 was $4.7 million, down 4% from the $4.9 million he made in 2017. That was due mainly to a change in Bickham’s pension value and deferred compensation from $356,409 in 2017 to $1,859 in 2018.

Rounding out the executive suite, chief financial officer Christopher Winfrey received $2.1 million in total compensation, a 3% increase; senior executive vice president David Ellen received $3.2 million, up 3.2%; and chief accounting officer and controller Kevin Howard received $1.6 million, up 2% from the prior year. 

The Walt Disney Co. said it has amended chairman and CEO Bob Iger’s compensation agreement, shaving about $13.5 million from potential awards he was eligible to receive after the company’s $71.3 billion purchase of certain 21st Century Fox assets is completed.

Disney agreed to purchase the Fox assets — including cable channels FX, FXX and National Geographic; its movie studios and other assets — last year after a month-long battle with Comcast for the properties. That deal is expected to close in the first half of the year. 

Related: Iger's 2018 Comp Soars

Disney didn’t say why it amended Iger’s agreement in the filing, but its action comes on the heels of a decision made in November to change some stock awards the executive was due to receive after the Fox closing. Those changes were made after Disney shareholders voiced some concern with the size of the award Iger was to receive — $100 million. Under those changes, Iger, who had already been granted $25 million of that award, would get the rest only if Disney’s total shareholder return outperformed 65% of the companies in the S&P 500 index. The earlier deal required that Disney outperform 50% of those companies. 

According to an 8-K document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, Disney eliminated an annual base salary increase for Iger of $500,000 on the transaction closing date, instead maintaining his current base salary at $3 million. In addition, the new deal eliminates an $8 million increase in Iger’s target bonus opportunity, instead keeping the old target of $12 million; and reduced by $5 million an annual long-term incentive target award that would have been available after the close to $20 million.

Disney is scheduled to hold its annual meeting of shareholders on March 7. 

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish’s total compensation was down about 2% in fiscal 2018 to $19.95 million from $20.3 million in the previous year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bakish, who took the helm of Viacom in 2016, received a base salary of $3 million in 2018, a tad higher than the $2.8 million he received in 2017. The biggest disparity was in stock awards -- $2.5 million in 2018 versus $5.8 million in the prior year, partially offset by a gain in non-equity incentive plan compensation -- $9.4 million in 2018 compared to $7 million in 2017.

Other Viacom executives reported increases in total compensation for the year, led by executive vice president, general counsel and secretary Christa D’Alimonte, with a 53% raise to $3.8 million. D’Alimonte’s base salary rose 27% to $1.04 million in 2018 from $822,933 in 2017, and her non-equity incentive compensation more than doubled to $1.8 million from $757,692 in the previous year.

Rounding out the top executives, EVP and chief financial officer Wade Davis received a 9.2% hike in total comp to $7.1 million from $6.5 million; and EVP of global government affairs Doretha Lea received a 5.2% pay bump to $2.4 million. Former EVP and chief administrative officer Scott Mills, who was named president of Viacom’s BET Networks unit on Jan. 1, 2018, received $6.9 million in total compensation, up 6.2% from the $6.5 million he received in 2017. 

A look at how much the top execs at some publicly traded programmers and MVPDs made last year suggests media's CEOs fared well, on balance, compared with 2016.

On an individual basis in 2017, a number of them experienced dramatic fluctuations from the prior year, pendulum swings ranging from a nearly 300% increase for one exec to a nearly 100% decrease for another.

Among 10 whose companies had reported by May 1, half saw increases in total compensation over their 2016 pay, driven primarily by stock options and awards.

In the other half, two CEOs took hits, while two remained steady. (For one, 2017 was his first full year as CEO.)

Bookmark This: Visit MCN's Executive Compensation page to read more about media CEOs' pay, including recent stories detailing their 2017 packages.  

A look at how much the top execs at some publicly traded programmers and MVPDs made last year suggests media's CEOs fared well, on balance, compared with 2016.

On an individual basis in 2017, a number of them experienced dramatic fluctuations from the prior year, pendulum swings ranging from a nearly 300% increase for one exec to a nearly 100% decrease for another. 

Among 10 whose companies had reported by May 1, half saw increases in total compensation over their 2016 pay, driven primarily by stock options and awards.

In the other half, two CEOs took hits, while two remained steady. (For one, 2017 was his first full year as CEO.)

Bookmark This: Visit MCN's Executive Compensation page to read more about media CEOs' pay, including recent stories detailing their 2017 packages.

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts didn’t get a raise in 2017, netting $32.5 million in salary, incentives and stock awards for the year, about 1% less than the $32.9 million he received in 2016.

Roberts’ base salary increased slightly from $3.0 million in 2016 to $3.1 million last year. His stock and option awards stayed basically the same at $5.3 million and $5.4 million, respectively, while his non-equity incentive base compensation fell from $10.7 million in 2016 to $9.1 million last year.

Chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh took the biggest hit -- his total compensation fell 22% to $20.1 million from $25.7 million in the prior year.

NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke was once again the highest paid Comcast executive – receiving $46.5 million in total compensation, up 1% from the $46.1 million he received in 2016.

Senior executive vice president David Cohen received $17.7 million in total compensation in 2017, down from the $17.9 million he received in the prior year. Non-executive vice chairman Neil Smit, who stepped down as CEO of Comcast Cable in April 2017, received $25.9 million in total compensation, a 2% increase from the $25.4 million he received in 2016.  

Qurate Retail CEO Gregg Maffei received $47.8 million in total compensation in 2017, more than three times the $13.3 million payday he got in the prior year, mainly in the form of option awards from the newly minted company, a combination of former Liberty Interactive Group holdings QVC, HSN Inc. and several other online retail brands.

Maffei received his 2017 compensation as president and CEO of Liberty Interactive. With the name change to Qurate Retail Group – effective in March – Maffei is now chair of the new company, while QVC CEO Mike George was named CEO of Qurate. George received total compensation of $7.7 million in 2017 as QVC CEO, 42% higher than the $5.4 million he received in 2016.

Maffei received $1.06 million in base salary in 2017, about the same as the year before. But his biggest windfall was in the form of option awards -- $41.8 million in 2017, more than five times the $8.1 million he received in the prior year. Maffei also received $2.3 million in stock awards – up from $1.96 million in the prior year, and non-equity incentive plan compensation of $2.5 million, up from $2 million in 2016.

Related: Ergen Sees Pay Rise in 2017

Other executives received about the same amount of compensation in 2017 as they did in the previous year. Chief legal officer Richard Baer took a pay cut – he received total compensation of $3.2 million in 2017, down from $5.1 million in 2016 – but others stayed fairly even. Chief financial officer Mark Carleton received $1.9 million in total compensation in 2017, even with the $1.9 million he netted in 2016; and chief corporate development officer Albert Rosenthaler received $2.7 million in total comp in 2017, slightly higher than the $2.4 million he received in the prior year.

CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves, currently at odds with his biggest shareholder over the pending merger with former corporate sister Viacom, kept his compensation relatively steady in 2017, raking in $69.3 million in salary, bonus and other awards for the year.

Moonves’s haul was about the same as the prior year, when he brought in $69.6 million. For 2017, the broadcast chief’s base salary was steady at $3.5 million. And though his annual bonus was much lighter in 2017 at $20 million – he received a $32 million bonus in 2016 – he more than made up for it in stock awards. According to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, Moonves received $43.7 million in stock awards in 2017, compared to $31.9 million in 2016.

Moonves and CBS are reportedly in negotiations to merge with Viacom, and CBS has submitted a proposal that valued the cable programmer at below its current stock price while placing CBS management in all of the top positions at the combined company. That has reportedly miffed Viacom execs as well as CBS and Viacom vice chair Shari Redstone, whose family controls 80% of the vote of both companies and who has been a big backer of Viacom CEO Bob Bakish. Viacom was expected to make a counter offer to the CBS proposal, and negotiations were expected to continue.

Chief operating officer Joseph Ianniello, who Moonves has reportedly picked to be his No. 2 at the combined company, saw his total compensation reduced by about 24% to $22.1 million in 2017 from $29 million in 2016, mainly due to loser stock awards. Ianniello received about $4.2 million in stock awards in 2017, compared to $10.7 million in 2016.

Other executives ended up with about the same packages as the previous year. Senior executive vice president and chief legal officer Lawrence Tu netted total compensation of $8.1 million in 2017, compared to $8.5 million the previous year. And senior executive vice president, chief administrative officer and chief human resources officer Anthony Ambrosio received $5.7 million in 2017 compensation, slightly higher than the $5.3 million he received in 2016. Senior executive vice president and chief communications officer Gil Schwartz received $4.7 million in total compensation in 2017, down from the $5.1 million he received in 2016.

Discovery Inc. CEO David Zaslav received total compensation of $42.2 million in 2017, a 13.2% boost from the prior year, fueled mainly by increases in option awards.

Zaslav’s salary stayed the same at $3 million, but he received $15.6 million in option awards, a 41% lift from the $11.1 million he received in the prior year.

Chief Financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, who joined Discovery on April 1, 2017, replacing former CFO Andrew Warren, received about $6 million in total compensation, including an $803,846 salary, $1.3 million in stock awards and $1.6 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation.

Discovery completed its $14.6 billion purchase of Scripps Networks earlier this month. It announced in January that it plans to move its headquarters from Silver Spring, Md. to New York by 2019.

Warren received $2.9 million in total compensation, about the same he received in the prior year. Warren’s salary was $349,111 for those three months (he left the company on March 31 2017) down from $1.2 million for the full year 2016, but he received a $2.2 million in other compensation, mostly severance, which made up the difference.

Another executive who left the company – former chief commercial officer Paul Guyardo, received $5.98 million in total compensation, up from $4.6 million in the prior year. Guyardo left Discovery on Dec. 31. 

Discovery chief development, distribution and legal officer Bruce Campbell saw his total compensation rise 16% to $7.8 million in 2017. Discovery Networks International CEO Jean-Briac Perrette’s total compensation dipped 29% to $8.2 million from $11.6 million in 2016, mainly due to one-time stock awards he received in the prior year.

Dish Network chair Charlie Ergen’s total compensation rose 41% in 2017 to $2.4 million, mainly due to option awards the long-time satellite executive received during the year.

Ergen’s salary stayed level at $1 million for the year, but the satellite chief received $654,033 in option awards and $6,389 in stock awards. He received no such awards in 2016, when his total compensation was $1.7 million.  

Despite the gain, Ergen’s compensation is dramatically lower than his peers in the industry. For example, Charter Communications chair CEO Tom Rutledge received $98.5 million in total compensation in 2016 and $7.8 million in 2017.

Erik Carlson, who became Dish CEO in December, received total compensation of $1.5 million for the year, a 61% decline from the $3.8 million he received in 2016. Carlson’s 2016 package included about $3.2 million in option awards. He received $654,033 in option awards in 2017.

SVP and chief financial officer Steven Swain received $887,646 in total compensation, up 38% from the prior year and due mainly by a $300,000 increase in option awards. Rounding out the executive list, EVP engineering and broadcast Jeffrey McSchooler received $2.1 million in total compensation, including $1.5 million in option awards. EVP and chief technology officer Vivek Khema and EVP corporate development Thomas Cullen each received $1.2 million in total compensation for the year.  

Charter Communications executives saw their total compensation plunge in 2017 – due mainly to the lack of massive one-time stock option awards – with chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge taking a $91 million haircut in a year that saw cable operators across the board struggle with the new pay TV paradigm.

Rutledge made $7.8 million in total compensation in 2017, a far cry from the $98.5 million he received in 2016, which made him the highest paid executive in media. The difference was in option awards – he received $77.9 million in 2016, nothing in 2017. The cable chief also did not receive stock awards in 2017, compared to $10.1 million in 2016. His base salary, at $2 million, stayed the same.

Other Charter executives also saw their big declines in total compensation, including chief operating officer John Bickham, whose total take fell from $47.4 million in 2016 to $4.9 million in 2017, and chief financial officer Christopher Winfrey. Winfrey’s compensation dropped from $29.2 million in 2016 to $2.1 million in 2017, while senior EVP David Ellen’s haul fell from $22.1 million in 2016 to $3.1 million in 2017. Lack of option awards were again the culprit – $35 million for Bickham, $23 million for Winfrey and $17.8 million for Ellen in 2016. None of those executives received option awards in 2017.

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $32.96 million in total compensation in 2016, a 9% pay cut from the previous year, despite the company showing its strongest video results in a decade.

Comcast ended 2016 with 161,000 more basic video customers than it started with, the first time that happened since 2006. The cable operator also started its wireless plans in motion, activating a Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreement with Verizon in October, the precursor for its April unveiling of its Xfinity Mobile product.

Roberts saw his base salary increase slightly to $3 million from $2.9 million and he received about $3.5 million in stock awards and $3.5 million in option awards, the same as in the prior year. The biggest difference was in the value of his pension and non-qualified deferred compensation-- $4.3 million in 2016, down from $8.7 million in 2015.

Other executives saw steeper reductions in their take-home haul. Chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh received $27.7million in total compensation, down 32% from $40.6 million in 2015. Cavanagh received $9.5 million in stock awards and $2.5 million in pension value and non-qualified deferred comp in 2016, down from $16.5 million and $11.9 million in 2015. Cable unit CEO Neil Smit, who became vice chairman of the company on April 1 – long-time executive Dave Watson is his replacement – received $25.4 million in total compensation (down 9% from $27.95 million in 2015) and senior executive vice president David Cohen received $17.9 million, about in line with the previous year.

NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke saw the biggest increase (36.8%), receiving $46.1 million in total compensation, mainly due to a near tripling of his option awards in the period from $5.35 million in 2015 to $15.4 million in 2016.

QVC Group CEO Michael George will be able to buy a lot more baubles, bangles and beads from the home shopping conglomerate he runs, raking in a total of $19.7 million in total compensation in 2015, according to a proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. 

QVC is part of Liberty Interactive, one of several companies that have spawned from cable legend John Malone Liberty Media. QVC is the largest holding of Liberty Interactive, which also includes online retailer Zulily and Liberty Ventures, which holds online companies Bodybuilding.com, CommerceHub, Evite and Right Start and minority interests in Time Warner Inc. and other companies.

George’s 2015 compensation increase was mainly due to $17.5 million in stock option awards the CEO received in 2015. George received no option awards in 2014. His total 2014 compensation was about $1.99 million.

The option awards are tied to a new five-year employment deal George reached with the company in September. As part of that agreement, he was eligible to receive a one-time grant of 1.7 million options to purchase QVC shares at a strike price of $26 per share. Half of those options vest on Dec. 31, 2019 and the rest on Dec. 31, 2020.    

In contrast, Liberty Interactive president and CEO Greg Maffei took a pay cut in 2015, reaping a total of $14.87 million in total compensation, compared to the $32.5 million he received in 2014. Option awards were the difference for Maffei as well – he received $3.6 million in option awards in 2015 compared to $28.6 million in 2014.

Options also played a big role in compensation gains for several other executives. Chief financial officer Christopher Shean received $7.7 million in total compensation in 2015 (up from $893,368 in 2014), including $6.3 million in option awards. Senior vice president Albert Rosenthaler saw his total compensation rise to $7.6 million in 2015 from $828,111 in 2014, mainly on the basis of a $6.3 million option award.

AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan received $17.7 million in total compensation last year, down from $40.3 million a year ago, according to the company.

Last year, Sapan received a stock award with $25 million as a retention award for signing a new employment agreement with the company.

Sapan’s base salary was unchanged at $2 million, and he received $10.1 million from the company’s non-equity incentive plan, AMC Networks said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves received total compensation of $56.8 million in 2015, a 1% reduction from the $57.2 million he got in the prior year, while the company’s largest shareholder, Sumner Redstone, saw his haul plunge 83% to $1.8 million, according to a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.

According to the document, Moonves received a base salary of $3.5 million, a $19 million bonus (down from $25 million in 2014) and stock awards valued at $25.5 million (up from $14.5 million in 2014). Moonves’ option awards fell to $7.2 million from $10 million in 2014. His pension value also dipped in 2015 to $421,021 from $2.8 million in 2014.

Redstone, in poor health and the focus of a nasty court battle concerning his overall mental competency, took the biggest hit, logging overall compensation of $1.8 million for the year, down from the $10.8 million he received in 2014. In 2013, Redstone received $57.2 million in total comp.

Redstone received the same base salary in 2015 of $1.75 million, but he received no bonus, stock awards and option awards. The 92-year-old media mogul, who relinquished his executive chairman title in February, still controls 80% of CBS’ and Viacom’s voting stock.

CBS chief operating officer Joe Ianniello also took a slight reduction in pay (2%), receiving $26.4 million in total compensation compared to $27.03 in 2014. Senior executive vice president, chief administrative officer and chief human resources officer Anthony Ambrosio received $4.1 million in total compensation in 2015, down 9% from the $4.5 million he received in the prior year, while senior executive vice president and chief legal officer Lawrence Tu took home $7.5 million in total  compensation, down 34% from the $11.3 million he received in 2014.    

Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $36.2 million in total compensation in 2015, a 10% increase over the prior year, according to a proxy statement filed Friday.

Roberts, who received $32.9 million in compensation in 2014, stayed relatively level on the annual base salary ($2.9 million), stock awards ($5.4 million) and option awards ($5.4 million) fronts, with the biggest change coming in pension value and deferred compensation earnings.  Roberts received $8.7 million in deferred comp and increased pension value in 2015, compared to $6.5 million in 2014.

But Roberts wasn’t Comcast’s highest paid executive – that honor went to new chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh, who joined Comcast in January, replacing former vice chairman and CFO Michael Angelakis, who resigned last year. Cavanagh took home $40.6 million in total compensation, including $16.5 million in stock awards and $11.9 million in “other” compensation, mainly deferred comp.

Other Comcast execs fared better. Comcast Cable unit CEO Neil Smit received $27.9 million in total compensation in 2015, a 21% increase over the $23.1 million he received in the previous year. And executive vice president David Cohen took home $17.9 million in total comp, a 33% increase over the $13.5 million he received in 2014.

NBC Universal CEO Stephen Burke made $33.7 million in 2015, slightly less than the $33.9 million he took home in 2014.  

Angelakis, who resigned in June but stayed on to help with the transition to a new CFO, received $20.2 million in total compensation in 2015, a 7% increase over the prior year. Angelakis became CEO of Atairos Group, an investment fund backed by Comcast in January. Atairos recently made its first major investment, $250 million for a stake in Internet company Groupon.

Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, a year after one-time incentives inflated his annual compensation to $156.1 million, received $32.4 million in 2015, a 79% decline and the lowest he has received since 2009 when he earned total compensation of $11.7 million.

Zaslav’s 2014 compensation was laden with one-time incentives tied to a new six-year employment deal he signed at the time.

According to a proxy filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday night, Zaslav’s 2015 annual salary rose to $3.12 million from $3 million. The CEO saw the biggest decline in stock awards and option awards – he received $11.3 million in stock wards (vs. $94.6 million in 2014) and $10.5 million in option awards (vs. $50.5 million in 2014).

Other executives also saw declines in overall compensation. Chief financial officer Andrew Warren (who has previously announced his intention to resign at the end of the year) received $5 million in overall compensation in 2015, down 27.5% from $6.9 million in 2014. Chief development, distribution and legal officer Bruce Campbell received $6.8 million in total compensation in 2015, down 10.5% from $7.6 million in 2014.

Discovery Networks International president Jean-Briac Perrette received a 51% boost in total compensation to $7.4 million in 2015 from $4.9 million in the prior year. Chief human resources and global diversity officer Adria Alpert Romm received $2.5 million in total compensation in 2015, up 19% from $2.1 million in 2014.

On the heels of claims from an activist shareholder that it has been paying its top executives way too much over the past several years, Viacom said it has dramatically reduced the compensation packages of its executive chairman Sumner Redstone and CEO Philippe Dauman.

Viacom said in a statement that Redstone’s annual compensation in fiscal 2015 declined 85% to $2 million, versus a total of $13 million in 2014. His salary was unchanged in fiscal 2015. He became ineligible to receive a bonus beginning in fiscal 2015 and has not been eligible to receive an annual equity award since fiscal 2012, the company said.

Dauman’s bonus declined 30% to $14 million in fiscal 2015, versus $20 million in the prior year and his contractually provided salary and annual equity award were substantially unchanged. He received a salary of $4 million in fiscal 2015, versus a salary of $3.9 million in fiscal 2014, and an annual equity award valued at $18.9 million in fiscal 2015, compared with an annual equity award valued at $19.9 million in fiscal 2014.

The news comes a day after shareholder SpringOwl Asset Management issued a 99-page report criticizing the company and calling for the ouster of its management. In the report, SpringOwl claimed that Viacom has paid Dauman and chief operating officer Tom Dooley a combined $432 million over the past five years.

A dramatic decline in the value of his pension forced an 82.5% decline in CBS non-executive chairman Sumner Redstone’s 2014 compensation, while a big dip in the value of his stock awards took a bite out of CEO Les Moonves’ total pay for the year, according to a proxy statement filed Friday.

Redstone took home $10.8 million in total compensation for the year, 82.5% less than the $57.2 million he was awarded in 2013. The difference was a dramatic decline in the change in his pension value – from $45.4 million in 2013 to $21,078 in 2014. 

Moonves’s 2014 total comp dipped 14.5% to $57.2 million from $66.9 million in 2013, largel because of a drop in the value of stock awards -- $14.5 million in 2014 vs. 26.5 million in 2013 – and a decline in his annual bonus from $28.5 million in 2013 to $25 million in 2014.

Other executives saw their total compensation rise for the year – chief operating officer Joseph Ianiello received $27.03 million (up 10% from the prior year), while senior executive vice president, chief administrative officer and chief human resources officer Anthony Ambrosio received a 10% bump in pay from $4.05 million to $4.46 million.

Walt Disney Co. chairman and CEO Bob Iger, fresh off a deal that extended his reign as Disney chief until 2018, received $46.5 million in total compensation in fiscal 2014, a 35.5% increase over the previous year.

Non-equity incentive bonuses made the difference for Iger and other top executives at Disney. Iger received $22.8 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, a 66.8% increase from the previous year. Iger’s base salary stayed constant at $2.5 million for the year, while he received $8.9 million in stock awards and $8.3 million in option awards, about even with the prior year.

Iger, who was scheduled to retire as Disney chairman and CEO at the end of 2016, agreed in October to extend his contract and serve in those roles through 2018.

Under Iger’s tenure, Disney has had some of its most dramatic growth. In 2014, Disney stock was one of the top performers in the sector, up about 23%.

Other executives that saw big compensation increases in fiscal 2014 include chief financial officer James Rasulo, who saw his non-equity incentive awards nearly double to $6.3 million from $3.8 million and helping to drive his total compensation up 51% to $16.2 million from $10.7 million.