Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch took home almost £5m in the year to the end of June, just a quarter of the bumper pay packet he pocketed in 2015.

Darroch, who heads up Sky’s pan-European operations, took home £4.75m in pay and bonuses in the broadcaster’s most recent financial year.

His base salary topped £1m for the first time (£1.01m), thanks to a 3% pay rise.

Darroch also took home a £2m bonus, up on the £1.96m he was awarded in 2015.

He also received £1.5m from a co-investment plan run by Sky.

However, Darroch’s 2015 remuneration of £17.9m dwarfs this year’s payout, when he received £12.8m thanks to the vesting of a long term incentive plan.

Finance chief Andrew Griffith saw his remuneration drop from £9.4m to £2.4m years year.

James Murdoch received £153,000 as a non-executive director in the year to the end of June.

From this year he will receive £400,000 annually after controversially being appointed chairman from 30 April.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, where son James is chief executive, owns a 39.1% stake in Sky which effectively gives it control of the broadcaster.

“As individuals, we believe that effective corporate governance is based on honesty, integrity and transparency and can only be fully realised within an environment of open, robust and effective debate,” said Murdoch in the overview of the corporate governance section of Sky’s annual report. “This is the board culture we foster at Sky and it is my personal responsibility as chairman to ensure that we continue to live this culture and promote it within our business.”