TORONTO – Keith Pelley has been hired as president of Rogers Media, the company announced this morning.
He will succeed Tony Viner, who in May announced his plan to retire, beginning September 7.
Pelley, 46, will report to Rogers Communications president and CEO Nadir Mohamed and will have overall responsibility for Rogers Media properties including Rogers Broadcasting, Rogers Publishing, Rogers Digital Media, Rogers Sportsnet, the Shopping Channel, the Toronto Blue Jays and Rogers Centre.
He was most recently executive vice-president of strategic planning at CTV and president of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (however, with Rogers as a main partner in that consortium with CTV, Pelley will still be involved with the 2012 Olympics in London). Pelley was also president and CEO of the Toronto Argonauts from 2004 to 2007, and prior to that was president of TSN.
"Keith is a highly regarded media executive with strong business acumen and an extensive background in sports," said Mohamed, in the press release. "He is widely recognized as an exceptional leader, and a proven operator who delivers results. Keith’s incredible depth and breadth of experience will be an asset to our senior executive team as we leverage our media assets in an increasingly digital world."
Pelley led a team during the Olympics that showed an unprecedented number of hours of world class video content, across all platforms, to very strong ratings. He’s very well respected in the Canadian industry and had been thought of as a replacement for CTV CEO Ivan Fecan, when he decides to retire.
Pelley succeeds Viner, who joined Rogers in 1982 and has overseen its growth from three radio stations when he started, to a diversified media company today comprised of radio, over-the-air (OMNI, Citytv) and specialty television services (Sportsnet, OLN), publishing (Maclean’s, Chatelaine, etc), digital media, and sports entertainment (Toronto Blue Jays).
"Tony has played an integral role in advancing our media business and Rogers Media has thrived under his leadership," said Mohamed. "I’d like to thank Tony for his significant contributions and wish him the best in his retirement."
"This is a tremendous opportunity to build on the legacy established by Tony Viner and the Rogers Media team," said Keith Pelley. "I’ve worked closely with the Rogers Media team over the years and most recently through the Olympic broadcast partnership. I’ve been impressed with the team’s professionalism, dedication and results-driven approach."
