• by David Goetzl , February 8, 2008

Outdoor Channel Holdings, which has seen ad revenues for its eponymous network grow even as the company has posted a loss, increased the base salary of CEO Roger Werner by 50% this week. A 5% cut of ad sales growth is also part of the new deal.

An early leader at ESPN and a driving force behind Speed network and what's now Versus, Werner's salary will rise further by an additional $50,000 to $500,000 in only a few months, on Oct. 16. And he'll receive a minimum bonus of $250,000 in both 2008 and 2009, according to an SEC filing.

Werner can also receive a bonus of up to $950,000 if the company renews carriage deals with seven MSOs on "reasonable" terms. And he can take home millions more if Outdoor Channel is able to boost distribution significantly over its reported 30 million.

If the 5% clause based on increases in ad revenue had been in place for the first nine months of 2007--the latest figures available-Werner would have received $125,000 as revenues grew 13.6% to $20.9 million.

Overall, company revenues for the first nine months of 2007 increased slightly to $35.2 million from $31.4 million. But OCH posted a $2.4 million loss, down from $9.9 million the year before.

Werner has tried to upgrade the channel's programming, while giving it a re-brand and new logo and launching a broadband channel.