Journalism

How Much Would You Pay CBS’s Scott Pelley?

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Last Updated on June 13, 2014

The anchor of the CBS Evening News wants a raise when his current contract is up. He’s likely to ask for an increase that will put him closer in salary to his NBC and ABC counterparts.

Scott Pelley, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News and correspondent for 60 Minutes wants a raise.

If I were a betting man, I’d guess he’s going to get one.

The only question is whether what he gets is close enough to what he wants.

Pelley took over the CBS gig when Katie Couric parted ways with the big Eye. Since then, while CBS remains in third place among the big three network news programs, his is the only network newscast to grow in viewers for three consecutive years.

That may be a function of how low ratings were under Couric. But the program is unquestionably better and contains more news than it used to.

CBS delivered an average of 6.4 million viewers during the 2012-13 season, which is the most current completed season on the books. ABC was second place with 7.7 million viewers and NBC was first place with 8.4 million.

If you do the math, reports Politico, NBC’s Bryan Williams, who makes an estimated $13 million per year, and ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who makes an estimated $12 million per year, both make more than $1.50 per viewer.

If you continue to do math, and believe me, I avoid doing math whenever possible, Pelley only makes about 77&nbsp¢ per viewer with his estimated $5 million per year paycheck.

So how much should he make?

There was a time, and it was around the time Couric was leaving and Pelley was announced as her successor at the anchor desk, that no one thought CBS would ever get out of the ratings basement in news.

Pelley’s team has grown numbers, which, given the talk at the time, is a major accomplishment in itself.

But his team is still in third place.

Does Pelley deserve full parity with Williams and Sawyer? Well, that depends on how you look at it.

If Pelley were to leave and CBS had to introduce a new anchor, all the while hoping that Pelley’s successor would be at least as popular as Pelley has been, it would be a major headache and a major financial risk. Why mess with a formula that seems to still be gaining steam?

But the program is still in third place, and executives have to decide how much the lack of a first-place showing will translate in any remaining salary gap he’d end up with or whether he should earn the same thing his counterparts do — or even more, for that matter.

Your Turn:

What if you had to make the decision? How much would you pay Scott Pelley?

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.

2 Comments

  • TedtheThird  I do like the “NLB” clause idea. I’m sure there are probably benchmarks like that already in play for many TV contracts, but I don’t know if network news anchors would necessarily have them.

  • I’m not overly familiar with how TV networks handle
    contracts for their on-air personalities. I do wonder if they could borrow a
    page from the world of sports. Incentives and “not likely to be earned” bonuses
    are standard fare in those contracts. A ‘not likely to be earned’ bonus is any bonus
    paid on an incentive that has never been hit by that player before. The
    Patriots, for instance, could put a ‘not likely to be earned’ incentive in Tom
    Brady’s contract that pays him $125k if he throws 51 touchdown passes in a
    season. As Brady have never thrown more than 50, that makes it a ‘not likely to
    be earned’. The team can announce the deal with the ‘could be worth as much as ‘
    and include the not likely to be earned.

    Pelley is making $5M a year. A reasonable raise would seem
    to be in the $7M area given his current positive gains. However, I would add a ‘not
    likely to be earned’ escalator that takes his salary $12M if CBS hits second
    place in consecutive quarters and $13M if CBS hits first place.

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