ITV slashes bonuses & salaries to deal with Covid-19

Carolyn McCall

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has axed director bonuses and cut the pay of its board by 20% to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

ITV has already scrapped its 2019 dividend but its exec directors, including CEO Carolyn McCall and group CFO Chris Kennedy, will now see their pay slashed and their annual bonus for 2020 being canceled.

The 20% pay cut will be in place until at least 30 June, with non-exec directors also affected.

The broadcaster said: “In the event that the lockdown continues beyond 30 June 2020, the Committee will review this matter again at that time.”

ITV has seen record numbers for some of its shows over recent weeks, such as Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, but advertisers have cut budgets and impacted on the broadcaster’s bigger audiences.

Last week, the broadcaster unveiled plans to reduce its programme budget by at least £100m ($115m) after “reviewing our programming spend in light of the weaker advertising environment.”

The cuts came amid news that production on long-running ITV soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street was being suspended. However, both will continue to air for several weeks to come as shows in the can make it onto air.

Yesterday, US telecoms giant Comcast Corp pledged $500m to help employees struggling financially due to the coronavirus pandemic, while its five top executives are planning to donate their salaries to Covid-19 charities.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, alongside chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell and Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch, will give up 100% of their salaries to support the Coronvirus relief efforts.