Ousted Crull an apparent fall guy for Bell Media
TORONTO Pity Kevin Crull, the now former president of Bell Media as of the announcement of his departure Thursday.
The writing of his imminent exit was splashed across the front pages of his firm’s minority partner — possibly with BCE Inc.’ s implicit blessing — just a couple of weeks ago.
Recall that Crull was vilified for meddling in CTV’s news coverage of a regulatory decision by the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission ( CRTC) involving the so- called pick- and- pay ruling that would provide consumers greater freedom to choose individual television channels as part of cable and satellite subscriptions. Bell, which owns CTV and a stable of cable channels, wasn’t thrilled with that decision last month.
For Bell and its parent, BCE, it was another poke in the eye from the federal watchdog in a longfestering feud.
Crull, ever the loyal senior foot soldier eager to appease his highspirited president and chief executive, George Cope, flexed the mighty telco’s power. He directed news staff at the country’s largest private broadcaster to exclude Jean- Pierre Blais, CRTC chairman, from any coverage of the ruling on Bell- owned networks.
A curious thing happened almost a week later. A lengthy article appeared in The Globe and Mail detailing Crull’s actions, how senior staff at the broadcaster feared for their jobs, complete with details of how Blais’ face was ordered off all broadcast coverage after his initial six- minute interview on BNN, a Bell Media- owned business news station.
What’s interesting is that BCE Inc. owns 15 per cent of The Globe and Crull sat on the newspaper’s board of directors as the representative for BCE. Corporate partners, including media companies, don’t make a habit of embarrassing one another in public unless, of course, there’s implicit or explicit approval from the other side. In other words, it’s worth asking whether The Globe would have published such an unflattering portrait of a business partner, let alone someone who sat inside the Thomson family’s private inner sanctum, without some kind of nod from BCE.
Did Bell stage the incident to embarrass and eventually rid itself of an executive who had passed his expiry date? “It was a complete setup reported as a straight news story,” said a BCE insider. “It looks like the whole thing may have been staged to get rid of Kevin.”
Perhaps Crull became the fall guy for an increasingly toxic company attitude toward the federal regulator that may have raised concerns in BCE’s boardroom.
BCE is replacing Crull with Mary Ann Turcke, who was executive vice- president of Bell’s team of 12,000 service technicians since 2008, and who has also been a representative of the company on the board of directors for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.
In a statement Thursday, Cope reiterated that “the independence of Bell Media’s news operations is of paramount importance to our company and to all Canadians.” Interpret that as you like: A parting shot or a forced olive branch to the CRTC. Possibly both.