Staff Shakeup within CTV Management Team

TORONTO: A number of top executives at CTV are exiting the company, ahead of a regulatory decision on the proposed takeover of the Canadian free-to-air broadcaster by telecom giant BCE Inc.

Exiting the company are Susanne Boyce, president of creative, content and channels; chief financial officer John Gossling; executive VP of corporate affairs Paul Sparkes; executive VP of digital media Alon Marcovici; and Dawn Fell, the executive VP of human resources and operations. They will be followed by CTVglobemedia’s president and CEO, Ivan Fecan, who announced last summer that he will leave CTV once the purchase closes.

The news came from an internal memo circulated by the new chief operating officer at CTVglobemedia, Kevin Crull. “Combining forces with Bell puts us in a great position to navigate today’s dynamic media landscape…. This position of strength is a perfect place to launch the next chapter of this outstanding organization. Today is a very big day in that evolution,” Crull wrote.

Phil King remains as head of sports and conventional programming, also taking on responsibility for independent Canadian production. Rick Brice, who was CTV’s president of revenue and business planning, is to head up specialty programming, excluding news and sports, and in-house production. Wendy Freeman stays on as head of news and current events programming. Chris Gordon remains as head of radio. Nikki Moffat, who was the senior VP of finance of CTVglobemedia, will be in charge of finance and revenue management.

New entrants include Mirko Bibic, who is extending his position as head of regulatory and government affairs for BCE and will also take up regulatory duties at the broadcaster, replacing Sparkes.

“I want to thank Ivan Fecan for his outstanding leadership and great vision that has made CTV the number one media company in Canada, year after year,” Sparkes said in an internal e-mail. “…I’m proud to have served with the best in the business. I wish Kevin Crull and his team great success moving forward.”