Roger Ailes, the creator of the Fox News Channel, has renewed his contract with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp for another four years, extending his reign over one of the most influential media outlets in US politics through the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mr Ailes, one of News Corp?s biggest revenue generators, will continue as chairman and chief executive of Fox News and chairman of its Fox television stations group. Mr Ailes also will work as a senior adviser to Mr Murdoch on television and news issues.
With a total pay of $21m, Mr Ailes was the fourth highest paid executive at News Corp in the fiscal year ended in June. Under the terms of his previous contract, signed in November 2008, Mr Ailes was entitled to a base salary of $5m. The agreement also granted Mr Ailes use of a car and driver, the company jet or a charter jet for business travel and security services for him and his family.
The previous contract wasn?t up for renewal until June 2013. Terms of his new contract were not disclosed.
Mr Ailes?s contract renewal comes amid a broader reshuffling in News Corp?s executive suite ahead of its split into two companies. Mr Murdoch will chair both companies and be chief executive of the entertainment company, of which Fox will be a part.
The Fox group ranks as one of News Corp?s most important business centres. Cable network programming accounted for revenues of $9.1bn and operating income of $3.3bn in the fiscal year ended June.
Fox News launched as a challenger to mainstream news organisations during Bill Clinton?s second term as US president in 1996. Loved by conservatives and loathed by liberals, the network quickly leapfrogged its rivals.
Fox News has continued its ratings lead over rivals MSNBC and CNN despite suffering its second straight year of audience declines in 2011, with a 3 per cent drop in primetime viewers, according to Nielsen. The network also dominated its competitors in total profits and news investment, estimated at more than $700m in 2011, according to the Pew Research Center?s State of the News Media report.
The election is fuelling a surge in ratings at Fox this quarter, with total average day ratings up about 38.9 per cent, according to Barclays Capital. In the third quarter, ratings were down about 5.7 per cent.
Fox holds a significant following among conservative viewers. Only two news outlets ? Fox News and local television news ? registered positive believability ratings from at least two-thirds of Republicans, according to a recent Pew Research report. Just 37 per cent of Democrats rated the network as believable.
Earlier this week, CBS said it had extended until June 2017 its contract with Les Moonves, its president and chief executive. Under the agreement, Mr Moonves received a signing bonus worth $22m in addition to a base salary of $3.5m and a target bonus of $12m a year. His total pay package was valued at $68.4m in 2011.
Time Warner?s CNN, meanwhile, is on the hunt for a new chief executive amid uncertainty over the future of the once pioneering cable news network. CNN remains profitable, but its domestic ratings have floundered as people turn to the web for breaking news and the polarising coverage of rivals Fox News and MSNBC.
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