NEW YORK (AP) - They're not Hollywood stars, they're not TV personalities and they don't play in a rock band, but their pay packages are in the same league.
Six of the 10 highest-paid CEOs last year worked in the media industry, according to a study carried out by executive compensation data firm Equilar and The Associated Press.
The best-paid chief executive of a large American company was David Zaslav, head of Discovery Communications, the pay-TV channel operator that is home to "Shark Week." His total compensation more than quadrupled to $156.1 million in 2014 after he extended his contract.
Les Moonves, of CBS, held on to second place in the rankings, despite a drop in pay from a year earlier. His pay package totaled $54.4 million.
The remaining four CEOs, from entertainment giants Viacom, Walt Disney, Comcast and Time Warner, have ranked among the nation's highest-paid executives for at least four years, according to the Equilar/AP pay study.
One reason for the high level of pay in the industry is that its CEOs are dealing with well-paid individuals.
"The talent, the actors and directors and writers, they're being paid a lot of money," said Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. "In industries where the talent makes a lot of money, the CEO makes a lot of money as well."
Pay packages for CEOs overall grew for the fifth straight year in 2014, driven by a rising stock market that pushed up the value of executive stock awards. Median compensation for the heads of Standard & Poor's 500 companies rose to a record $10.6 million, up from $10.5 million the year before, according to the Equilar/AP pay study.
Peer pressure is another factor driving up executive compensation. The board members responsible for setting CEO pay typically consider what the heads of similar companies are making. If pay for one goes up, it will likely go up for others.
For the chieftains of media, there are also other factors boosting pay.
Several work at companies where a few major shareholders control the vote.
The media magnate Sumner Redstone controls almost 80 percent of the voting stock at CBS and Viacom. Because of his large holdings, Redstone can easily override the concerns of other investors about the level of CEO pay. Discovery's voting stock is heavily influenced by the brothers Si and Donald Newhouse and John Malone, another influential investor in the media industry.
At Comcast, which owns NBC and Universal Studios, CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts controls a third of his company's voting stock. That means he has substantial influence on the pay that he is awarded.
Comcast had no comment when contacted by the AP for this story.
All of the media executives have tried, with varying degrees of success, to maximize the value of their company's entertainment brands online and on mobile devices.
For example, Moonves at CBS launched the series "Under the Dome" - based on the Stephen King novel - both on the network and on the Amazon Prime streaming service. Besides reaching online customers, the move helped offset production costs. The company, whose shows also include "NCIS" and "The Good Wife," has attracted 100,000 customers to "CBS All Access," an online subscription platform that costs $6 a month. Time Warner, under CEO Jeffrey Bewkes, launched HBO Now, which streams shows to computers, tablets and smartphones for $15 a month.
At Disney, CEO Bob Iger has bolstered revenues through canny acquisitions.
The purchase of Marvel in 2009 is reaping dividends with blockbuster superhero movies. "Avengers: Age of Ultron," pulled in almost $190 million in its opening weekend, making it the second-biggest U.S. movie opening ever. Disney's purchase of LucasFilms in 2012 means it also owns the highly lucrative "Star Wars" franchise, with the next installment scheduled for release in December.
Media stocks have climbed strongly the past five years. An index of media companies in the S&P 500 index has risen 193 percent compared with a gain of 95 percent for the broader S&P 500.
Discovery's stock price has climbed almost fivefold since it started trading as a public company in September 2008.
Zaslav, who has led Discovery since 2007, saw his compensation rise last year after he negotiated a new contract that will keep him at the company until 2019. Last year's pay package included $145 million in stock and options awards, $6 million in cash bonuses, $3 million in base salary, and $1.9 million in perks.
The company has pushed its channels overseas where pay TV penetration is growing faster than in the U.S. Last year, Discovery also grabbed a controlling stake in Eurosport International, making a bet on live sports. The move into European sports has set the stage for renewed growth overseas.
Zaslav has done a terrific job, said Chris Marangi, portfolio manager at GAMCO Investors Inc., which holds more than $150 million in Discovery stock.
The CEO has returned cash to shareholders and increased viewership largely through company-owned reality TV shows like "Say Yes to the Dress" and "Deadliest Catch."
"He's a dynamic leader at the helm of a company in a very fast-changing industry," Marangi said.
Even though Discovery's stock has slumped over the last 18 months, it is still up 243 percent since Zaslav took the helm in 2007. That compares with a gain of 49 percent for the S&P 500 over the same time.
Discovery declined to comment for this stor.
The pay package of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's reflects "solid financial results, execution on key operational goals and a return of $3.9 billion to stockholders through stock buybacks and dividends," company spokesman Jeremy Zweig said.
Top executives are getting paid more because much of their compensation comes from bonuses linked to their company's financial and stock performance. Only a small part of their pay comes from their base salary.
Structuring pay this way is intended to align the executives' interests to that of the company and to encourage long-term strategies.
Because corporate earnings have grown consistently, with a near six-year expansion of the economy, executives have met or beaten their earnings targets generally.
Biggest changes
Here is a look at CEOs who received the biggest pay raises and biggest cuts in 2014 compared with 2013, as calculated by the executive pay research firm Equilar for The Associated Press.
Whose pay rose the most:
Richard Hayne, Urban Outfitters, $535,636, up 682 percent
David Zaslav, Discovery Communications, $156.1 million, up 368 percent
John Richels, Devon Energy, $14.9 million, up 301 percent
Jeffrey Leiden, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, $36.6 million, up 179 percent
Patricia Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland, $16.3 million, up 138 percent
Whose pay fell the most:
Stephen Kaufer, TripAdvisor, $1.2 million, down 97 percent
Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan, $8.4 million, down 85 percent
Sandeep Mathrani, General Growth Properties, $4.9 million, down 78 percent
Thomas McInerney, Genworth Financial, $2.7 million, down 78 percent
Sean Healey, Affiliated Managers Group, $5.4 million, down 73 percent