Part-time Chisholm paid pounds 1.6m

SAM CHISHOLM (left), the former chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting, was paid a total of pounds 1.57m last year even though he only works as a part-time consultant. Mr Chisholm left BSkyB - supposedly for health reasons - in January but agreed to carry on working for the company for 10 days a month. As part of the deal he is entitled to his full salary and a third of BSkyB's bonus pool until the beginning of 2000. Under a similar deal, the former deputy chief executive, David Chance, was paid pounds 1.03m.

Mark Booth, the chief executive of BSkyB, has been awarded a three-year contract lasting until June 2000. He will receive double his salary - which has been raised to pounds 615,000 - if he is fired, and will get a one- year payoff if the contract is not renewed. Elisabeth Murdoch, Sky's director of programmes, was paid pounds 470,000 last year, including a bonus of pounds 270,000 which covered a two-year period.