TORONTO – Shaw Media today announced various organizational changes as the media company reshapes its business to better compete in an “evolving media landscape,” the company announced this afternoon.
The changes are based on its plans to redefine the organization from that of a traditional broadcaster to the broader focus of a media organization, reads the release. The organizational realignment is focused around strengthening the two core pillars in Shaw Media's business: Content – the creation, acquisition, scheduling and promotion of content across platforms; and Revenue – the measurement, delivery, monetization and optimization of content across all platforms.
The immediate result of the re-org means there has been a “net reduction of less than 30” in the company’s news department. “As of a result of reinventing our production processes to create a sustainable news business, we are making a number of staff changes in Global News,” said a company spokesperson. “There will be no reduction in front line newsgathering and the number of hours of news produced each day will actually increase. In some locations reporting assets will also increase as roles shift from production to newsgathering. In Toronto, Global News will be increasing staff by substantial numbers.”
As well, long time head of sales, SVP Errol Da-Re, VP marketing Amanda Ploughman and VP strategic insight and research Kathy Gardner have all left the company with this restucturing, Cartt.ca has learned. Da-Re has been in charge of sales for 13 years and before that worked for CanWest and Alliance Atlantis. Ploughman was hired from Pelmorex in 2013 and prior to that was CEO of the Canadian arm of media agency Mediacom. Gardner has been with Shaw in research for 13 years. Other senior people within the company have had their roles changed as well.
"The evolution of our business from a broadcaster to media organization is a reflection that our focus is no longer centered solely on creating long-form content designed for a 24-hour schedule, but has expanded to encompass all types of content across platforms – long form, short form, branded content, instructional videos, behind the scenes content, web content, content for social media, and so on – so that we engage as many people as possible in as many ways as possible with our brands and monetize those audiences in our rapidly changing industry," said Barbara Williams, EVP, Shaw Communications, and president, Shaw Media, in the release.
To lead the revenue side of the business, the position of senior vice president and chief revenue officer has been created which will consolidate all revenue components of the business – broadcast, digital and distribution sales and branded content. “The combined department will include a concerted focus on next-generation advertising and analytics as well as any future revenue streams,” says the release. A search is currently underway for the position.
As for the new executive structure, Christine Shipton is appointed senior vice president and chief creative officer. In this role, Shipton will lead Shaw Media's brand marketing, digital and content activities, ensuring the creation and promotion of content informed by strong brands that deeply resonate with consumers across platforms.
Dervla Kelly is appointed vice president, marketing and communications, with responsibility for trade marketing, distribution marketing, social media, media planning as well as the communications functions within Shaw Media.
Greg Treffry is appointed vice president, business development and media digital strategy, responsible for the organization's future-focused opportunities, including the assessment of new technologies, business opportunities and partnerships.
The balance of the media leadership team will be comprised of Troy Reeb, senior vice president, news and station operations, Michael French, vice president, finance, Shawn Kelly, vice president, media technology, Dan Markou, vice president, human resources and Paul Cowling, vice president, regulatory.
When it comes to how news will be produced and aired by Shaw's Global TV stations, Reeb was quoted in a globalnews.ca story saying:
“We’re actually rolling out a plan to shift the news organization in a bigger way to a story-centric production model and that means moving past some of the traditional ways we’ve produced television newscasts, to one where we touch the content once, make sure that it is best-catered for the audience and then deliver it."
That means the production of the late-night and weekend newscasts east of Alberta, as well as Kelowna, will be moved to Toronto, where a single-anchor team will produce a local newscast for each market, according to the story, while local morning shows and early evening newscasts will continue to be anchored from studios in local markets, though the production of some national and international segments will be centralized in Toronto.
“We’ll actually increase reporting assets at the front-line through this in many locations and we’ll be able to increase the number of hours of news that we produce every week, though it is going to be a big change in the way that people traditionally think of television," said Reeb.
“It’s really to respond to the change in both the viewing habits of Canadians, the way people consume and the way we are actually able to pay for our news content. The advertising market has changed drastically and its ability to support certain types of news consumption is shifting to more online and digital platforms. We want to be able to follow our audience there.”
Reeb added that the organizational changes were not a “cuts exercise, but an innovation exercise.”
