Channel 4 defers bonuses and scraps pay rise for top executives amid backlash

Broadcaster says top chiefs to indefinitely defer retention bonuses, and won’t take an annual pay rise this year

Channel 4’s top executives have deferred taking bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and scrapped a planned pay rise, amid a growing backlash from struggling TV producers hit by the broadcaster’s cuts to programme-making.

Chief executive Alex Mahon, chief content officer Ian Katz and chief operating officer Jonathan Allan are still on course to take home millions in pay and other bonuses, details of which will be confirmed when Channel 4 publishes its annual report later this summer.