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The Mail on Sunday claims the bonus, on top of his basic salary of £825,000, will take Grade's pay package this year to £1.4m.

It will be paid regardless of whether the company has met targets that apply to a separate long-term incentive scheme that Grade joined.

The scheme will reward him with £6m over five years if ITV meets the objectives, which include a share price target of 225p.

However, ITV shares stand at 83p today, which is over 20% lower than they were when Grade joined the company in January last year.

The share price could also move when the Competition Commission announces its decision on whether BSkyB should have to reduce its 17.9% shareholding in ITV.

ITV was unavailable for comment this morning.