- Phil King to oversee English-language specialty channels in addition
to conventional and sports programming -
To tweet this release: http://bit.ly/1jgTawV
TORONTO, Nov. 18, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Media announced today that
Rick Brace, President, Specialty Channels and CTV Production, will
retire at the end of the year after a successful, nearly 40-year career
that saw him become one of the most highly regarded media executives in
Canada.
"Rick has been a leader and friend to many of us and is overwhelmingly
respected in every corner of this industry. For me personally, he has
been a true mentor and a role model," said Kevin Crull, President, Bell
Media. "I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Rick for his
vision and hard work through all these years and wish him a happy,
well-deserved retirement."
Brace will continue to contribute to Bell Media by leading a few special
projects as a consultant, as well as continuing to serve as the
company's representative on the board of directors of Discovery Canada,
CTV Specialty Television Inc., and the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Bell Media also announced that following Rick Brace's retirement, Phil
King will become President, CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming.
Currently President, CTV Programming and Sports, King will assume
responsibility for Bell Media's English-language specialty channels in
addition to his current responsibilities. This consolidation of all of
Bell Media's English-language TV and digital programming, content
creation, and content acquisition teams provides significant
opportunities to improve both effectiveness and efficiency. Catherine
MacLeod will continue in her role as Senior Vice-President, Specialty
Channels, supported by King.
About Rick Brace
Rick Brace joined TSN in 1986, just two years after the network's
inception. As one of the networks' pioneers, Rick was instrumental in shaping the network's identity as Canada's Sports Leader and cementing its status as one of North
America's most influential sports broadcasters. He was one of the key
negotiators responsible for landing several high-profile acquisitions
for the network, including the NHL, World Juniors, Olympic Games, and
the CFL. Rick was also instrumental for his role in negotiations to
secure CTV broadcast rights for the Olympic Games. He would go on to
help shape Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium's award-winning
coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. After moving from
TSN to CTV, Rick played a key role in continuing the network's role as
one of North America's leading private broadcasters. Later, as
President of Specialty Channels and CTV Production, Rick has helped
re-invigorate Bell Media's specialty channel division and in-house
productions.
About Bell Media
With passion and an unrelenting commitment to excellence, Bell Media
creates content and builds brands that entertain, inform, engage, and
inspire audiences through the platforms of their choice. Bell Media is
Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in television,
radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. Bell Media owns 30
local television stations led by CTV, Canada's #1 television network;
34 specialty channels, including TSN and RDS, Canada's most-watched
specialty channels in English and French; four pay TV services,
including The Movie Network and Super Écran; and is managing
shareholder of premium pay-per-view service Viewers Choice Canada. Bell
Media is also Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 107 licensed
radio stations in 55 markets across Canada. Bell Media owns Astral
Out-of-Home, one of Canada's most dynamic and innovative out-of-home
advertising companies with a network of more than 9,500 advertising
faces in Québec, Ontario and British Columbia. Bell Media also operates
more than 200 websites, delivers TV Everywhere with its innovative GO
video streaming services, including TMN GO and Bravo GO, and owns Dome
Productions Inc., a multi-platform production company. Bell Media is
part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications
company. For more on Bell Media, please visit www.bellmedia.ca.
SOURCE Bell Media
