TORONTO – Long-time CTV president and CEO Ivan Fecan told employees today that he intends to retire within the next year.
He and Bell Canada CEO George Cope were speaking to employees at a town hall meeting to address CTV staff questions over the Bell acquisition of the broadcaster when Fecan made the announcement.
In a note to staff on Friday afternoon, Fecan said while he had originally planned to retire as CEO in 2012, it is "in the best interests of our company for me to retire sooner — so that the new leader can have a fresh start with a new ownership structure."
"After meeting with George Cope, I promised to stay through the regulatory process and work with him to execute a seamless transition, all of which should be completed by next summer", Fecan wrote. "So I will probably be here for another year."
Fecan reminisced about his 17 years at the company, which, at that time “owned a few TV stations in Ontario and Saskatchewan and 14% of CTV, which at the time was a part-time network.”
"And here we are today, Canada’s #1 media company, with the best people and the most popular brands in conventional and specialty television, digital media and radio", he continued. "We are entering our 10th year as #1 in conventional, we have the #1 specialty channels in both English and French, the #1 FM radio station, and we are #1 in digital. We have weathered the recession and our results are great. We are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the recovery.
"Soon it will be time for someone else’s imagination to take it further. And with George Cope at the helm of Bell, I am confident that CTV will be in great hands."
