Cable / Telecom News

OBITUARY: Life Network founder Juris Silkans remembered as “delightful, enthusiastic, zany”


LOS ALTOS, Calif. – Life Network founder and Canadian cable television executive Juris Silkans died on February 23 at his home in Los Altos, California. He was 70.Born in 1943 in Ludza, Latvia, Silkans moved to Canada as a child with his parents who settled in Hamilton, Ont. After graduating from McMaster University, he got his start in the broadcasting industry in 1975 when he was appointed director of cable and new service policy for the Department of Communications in Ottawa.He moved to the private sector in 1977, joining Toronto-based CUC Broadcasting Limited, which at that time was one of...