Channel 4's outgoing chief executive was paid a record £1m in his final full year in charge of the broadcaster, which is promising to stem its audience decline with a new-look The Great

British Bake Off. David Abraham is standing down in the autumn after seven years running Channel 4. His bumper pay package came despite a slight decline in the share of TV audiences that

watched its channels, including E4, Film4 and More4, last year. However, flagship Channel 4 maintained its audience share in the face of a "tsunami of sport" aired by rivals

including the Rio Olympics. The board awarded Abraham a bonus of £256,000, on top of his £560,000 basic salary, plus £140,000 in pension contributions. The broadcaster made record revenues

will earn this year," he said. "We just had our best ever year on [delivering] our remit. We have knocked the lights out on that and we should be pleased that we are paying David

as much as we are for what he and the team have achieved." Channel 4 said it had no intention of following the BBC in revealing the salaries of its top TV talent. The BBC is expected to

reveal the pay bands of stars including Gary Lineker, Fiona Bruce and Huw Edwards next week. "This is a heated issue and a very political one," said Jay Hunt, Channel 4's

outgoing chief creative officer. "I am very much of the view that it is inflationary and causes competitive situations with other broadcasters and is not an effective way of managing

talent." The broadcaster expects the "tough" audience performance in the first quarter of this year to recover thanks to upcoming shows including Bake Off, star-studded sci fi

series Electric Dreams, based on stories by Philip K Dick, and Isis drama The State. Hunt shrugged off rumours that there are chemistry problems on the set of Bake Off. "I can reassure

all of the sceptics that it is looking fantastic," she said. "I was down at the tent a few weeks ago and the chemistry is fantastic but even more striking, I've seen the

first episode now, the calibre of the baking this series is absolutely jaw-dropping. I am very optimistic about how it is going to land [with viewers]." Gurassa also addressed the issue

of the government's consultation on a potential move of parts, or all, of Channel 4 out of London. He acknowledged that the failure of the Tories to secure a majority government had

"clearly changed the environment" and that Channel 4 could not be forced to move without new legislation. "If the government wanted us to do something that we as a board

ultimately said, 'this would damage our ability to deliver our remit', then yes it would require primary legislation," he said. "We have set out on this process to try

and be constructive and try and wrk out how we can do more. What is the best way Channel 4 can make an even bigger contribution to the nations and regions." About seven or eight cities

and regions including Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds are lobbying to become the broadcaster's new home. Abraham warned that Channel 4 has to be very careful about the financial

sweeteners that are being offered to attempt to win it over. "I think it is important that the commercial and editorial independence of Channel 4 is maintained," said Abraham.

"Some of the solutions that have been tabled are effectively public money being used as an inducement to get us to move."