It’s good to be the king, Mel Brooks famously joked in “History of the World: Part 1.”

When it comes to the entertainment business, he was especially right. There’s never been a richer time to wear the crown at the media conglomerates that churn out the world’s most popular television shows and movies. CBS’ Les Moonves, Discovery’s David Zaslav and Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes each took home salary and compensation packages in 2017 that dwarfed those of Silicon Valley pashas such as Apple’s Tim Cook ($12.8 million) or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($8.9 million), despite the fact that Cook’s and Zuckerberg’s companies boast far greater market share and cultural cachet.

“It’s a warped economic system,” says Rosanna Landis Weaver, program manager of the CEO Pay Program at shareholder advocacy group As You Sow.

To be fair, the job is fraught with peril. Many of these media chiefs are navigating a rapidly changing world order, one in which movie attendance is slipping in popularity and cable cords are being cut. If that’s not enough, there’s a massive wave of consolidation afoot among the traditional media giants, as a way to compete in the direct-to-consumer space with streaming powerhouse Netflix.

“Looking back, it will be interesting to see whether or not the companies that managed all the changes the best were the ones with the highest-paid executives,” says Landis Weaver.

Variety

Certain structural particularities may be to blame for the lavish pay packages, compensation experts say. Companies including Fox, Viacom and Comcast have dual-class stock, giving the controlling shareholder nearly absolute authority. “A dual-class structure insulates leaders from performance concerns,” says corporate governance expert Charles Ellison. “In these companies there’s almost no oversight by the board, and the controlling shareholder has the ability to appoint all the companies’ directors and control debate on compensation.”

It also means that they establish a baseline for media executive compensation, creating a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses atmosphere for companies without dual-class structures, such as Disney and Time Warner.

There are signs, however, that the good times are ending. Moonves’ and Bewkes’ current homes may quickly become part of vaster media enterprises. CBS is engaged in tortuous merger talks with Viacom that could leave Moonves either out of a job or in control of a much bigger company. Time Warner is trying to get court approval for its sale to AT&T. Disney agreed to vacuum up much of Fox’s film and television assets, leaving Rupert Murdoch’s empire a shell of its former self. And Lionsgate appears eager to sell itself to the highest bidder. If all this comes to pass, in 12 months we could be looking across a radically altered media landscape.

There are also rumblings of dissatisfaction among stockholders. In March, for instance, Disney shareholders voted down a nonbinding endorsement of Bob Iger’s pay package, a rare rebuke to the powerful CEO. Last month, the City of Birmingham Relief and Retirement System, a shareholder in Netflix, filed suit against the streaming giant, accusing it of giving overly generous bonuses.

“No board member ever got in trouble for saying yes to a CEO pay package,” notes “The CEO Pay Machine” author Steven Clifford. “These boards tend to be made up of other CEOs or former CEOs, and you might not be invited to other boards if you stand in the way of someone’s raise. There are a lot of reasons to vote yes, and not many to vote no.”

Before the media landscape gets upended or shareholders take up pitchforks, click here for a breakdown of some of the prominent pay packages from the top ranks of entertainment executives, and get a quick rundown below.

LEslie Moonves chairman, president and CEO, CBS Corp. 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $69.3 million

-0.3% $116,654 595 -6.2% $64.0 million

Jeff Bewkes chairman and CEO, Time Warner 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $49.0 million

+50.2% $75,217 651 -3.7% $35.7 million

David Zaslav president and CEO, Discovery Communications 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $42.2 million

+13.6% $80,858 522 -18.4% $56.7 million

Bob Iger chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Co. 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $36.3 million

-17.3% NA NA +7.8% $41.2 million

Jon Feltheimer CEO, Lionsgate 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $35.3 million

+223% NA NA NA $26.4 million

BRIAN ROBERTS chairman and CEO, Comcast Corp. 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $32.5 million

-1.3% $71,006 458 +17.5% $33.2 million

Rupert Murdoch executive chairman, 21st Century Fox 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $29.3 million

-15.3% NA NA +8.6% $30.0 million

REED HASTINGS chairman and CEO, Netflix 2017 compensation median employee compensation pay ratio to median employee 2017 Total Shareholder Return five-year average annual compensation $24.4 million

+5% $183,304 133 +55.1% $16.6 million