Prank call pay bonus

Southern Cross Austereo chief executive Rhys Holleran received a pay rise to $1.66 million last financial year, including a cash bonus of more than $200,000, despite continued anger over a prank call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated.

For the year to June Mr Holleran's total remuneration included a base salary of $768,750 and bonus of $205,500.

His previous year's income was $1.3 million, including a larger bonus of $229,650.

Southern Cross Stereo - it says it creates Australia's "most awesome" content via radio, free-to-air TV networks, websites, mobile and events - reported a 5 per cent fall in revenue to $653.1 million.

It suspended all advertising on its 2Day FM radio station after a scandal involving the suicide of a British nurse, who was taken in by a prank call by presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian. Pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, they phoned the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for a pregnancy-related illness.

Another host, Kyle Sandilands, was widely criticised for threatening to "hunt down" a journalist, and questioning a teenage sexual assault victim about her sexual experiences.