Channel 4 pay is gobsmacking, says ex-chief

A FORMER boss of Channel 4 has accused its current executives of ‘arrogance’ and said their salaries are ‘gobsmacking’.

Michael Grade, who was CEO for a decade from 1987, said the pay packets suggest the broadcaster ‘is not in any way accountable’. He singled out outgoing CEO David Abraham’s £957,000 salary and creative director Jay Hunt’s £683,000.

In comparison, BBC chief Lord Hall was paid £467,000 last year. Lord Grade, who earned £425,000 in 1995, told the Financial Times: ‘The tone coming out of C4 smacks of arrogance which I find disturbing.’

The Government is considering forcing C4, which is publicly owned but not publicly funded, to relocate from its £100million HQ in London. Asked about this last month, Mr Abraham said ‘the board is not obliged to be the cash machine for the latest well-meaning government policy’.

Lord Grade said this was ‘insolent’, adding: ‘The implication is that there’s no talent outside London. How dare they say that? That quote is symptomatic of something seriously wrong at C4. Just because they have a cushy life in a free building.’

The row comes after it emerged the BBC pays stars up to £2.2million, with a big gender pay gap.