Kevin Crull is out at Bell Media.
On April 9 BCE released a statement announcing the Bell Media president’s departure. The news follows a Globe and Mail report that Crull tried to prevent Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission chairman Jean-Pierre Blais from appearing on-air on CTV during the station’s reporting of the CRTC’s new “pick and pay” rules for broadcasters.
In the statement, Bell Canada president and CEO George Cope directly alluded to the incident. “The independence of Bell Media’s news operations is of paramount importance to our company and to all Canadians. There can be no doubt that Bell will always uphold the journalistic standards that have made CTV the most trusted brand in Canadian news,” he said.
Prior to Crull’s departure from Bell, Cope issued a public apology for trying to interfere with the CTV’s reporting and said he addressed the “team directly for this mistake.”
Cope also praised Crull’s tenure at the media company, stating, “Kevin has been a significant part of Bell’s strategic transformation as he expanded Bell Media’s leadership with major new investments in Canadian content, the successful integration of Astral and competitive innovations like CraveTV.”
Crull spent four years in the senior media position. Replacing Crull will be Mary Ann Turcke as the new president of Bell Media. Turcke was formerly group president, media sales, local TV and radio for Bell Media.
BCE also announced a handful of other executive changes including the promotion of long-time telecom marketer Wade Oosterman to group president of Bell and BCE, overseeing Bell Media, Bell Mobility and Bell Residential Services.
Blaik Kirby was named president of Bell Mobility. Kirby was formerly chief marketing officer of Bell’s wireless business unit. And Rizwan Jamal was named president, Bell Residential Services. Jamal was formerly chief marketing officer for Bell Residential Services.
