TORONTO – Catherine MacLeod is the new head of specialty television at Bell Media as the company continues with a major realignment of its numerous brands into what it calls “strategic groups”.
As vice-president, specialty television, MacLeod will oversee brand and programming strategies across all specialty assets, maximize acquisition opportunities, secure strategic deals with studios, and negotiate network content rights across all platforms, according to a note to staff from Rick Brace, president of specialty channels and CTV production. After joining the company in 2000, MacLeod was most recently VP of business and legal affairs.
Sally Basmajian has been promoted to vice-president and general manager of the company’s Comedy and Drama assets, where she will be responsible for The Comedy Network, Comedy Gold, Space, and Bravo! networks. Basmajian was with Discovery Channel for 15 years before assuming her most recent role of VP of sales and marketing.
As the vice-president and general manager of Music and Entertainment, Neil Staite’s new responsibilities will include MuchMusic, MuchMore, MTV, MTV2, E! and FashionTelevisionChannel. A 24-year Bell Media veteran, Staite was most recently director of operations for MuchMusic, though he also managed production and programming logistics for the Royal Wedding and CTV’s coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony.
Staite’s appointment is effective immediately, while MacLeod and Basmajian will transition into their new roles in the coming weeks.
“These appointments ensure we have strong brand champions who provide demonstrated leadership, vision, experience and creativity to their respective groups”, Brace’s note continued. “It is incredibly satisfying to be able to fill these roles with people from within our organization, which speaks to the tremendous strength and quality of our team.”
Brace also hinted at additional executive announcements in the near future as he continues to shake up the BCE-era senior management team.
