MONTREAL – Bell Canada CEO George Cope used his opening address to the CRTC Monday morning to announce that post-merger, pending Commission approval, that is, Jacques Parisien will join Bell Media’s executive ranks, largely overseeing the company’s French media assets.
“Located here in Montréal, Jacques will oversee both French and English-language media properties operating across Canada. In addition, Jacques will contribute to Bell as a key executive leader in our Québec market development efforts through his extensive relationships with stakeholders across the province,” said Cope.
When it came Parisien’s turn to speak, he added: “I would like to begin by saying what an honour it is to be invited to join the Bell Media leadership team. As an Astral employee since 1994, I very much look forward to leveraging our team’s expertise to help deliver the best French and English content to Canadians in new and exciting ways.” Parisien (right) is currently EVP and COO of Astral Media and president of Astral Radio.
In case anyone forgot – and considering the political pressure on the deal from those in Quebec worried about another French company leaving, Parisien noted that “all decision-making related to French-language properties (is) remaining in Montréal, (and) any suggestion that this transaction will reduce our commitment to serving Québec consumers, advertisers, viewers, listeners and communities is plainly false. In fact, we can say that the French-language expertise and capabilities of the Astral team have never been so highly valued. I am very excited about joining this new team, and very optimistic about our future opportunities together.”
– Greg O’Brien
