Kevin Crull to succeed CTV head Ivan Fecan

TORONTO -- Canadian senior telecom executive Kevin Crull is to succeed Ivan Fecan as head of national TV network CTV, it was announced Wednesday.
 
CTV president Fecan said Crull, most recently president of Bell Residential Services at phone giant BCE Inc., has been hired to become COO of CTV on January 1, 2011.
 
Crull will then succeed Fecan as the CTV topper when BCE completes a pending $3.2 billion takeover of the national TV network.
 
CTV airs a host of popular U.S. network series north of the border, including the "CSI" and "Law & Order" drama franchises, and comedies like "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men."
 
Crull led BCE's march into the digital TV business with the recent launch of its Bell Fibe TV service on a fiber optic network in the Toronto and Montreal markets.
 
Fecan, who has led CTV for 17 years, had planned to retire in 2012, but brought his departure forward in the wake of the friendly BCE takeover deal that now awaits shareholder and regulatory approvals.
 
The Canadian phone giant, which once held a majority stake in CTV before selling it off in 2005, now seeks 100% control of the TV network to push its video content down an expanding broadcast, Internet and mobile phone pipeline.
 
"Kevin Crull has a great reputation as a seasoned executive leader and innovator in Canadian communications and is well regarded in the industry for his deep understanding of both digital and conventional media," Fecan said in a statement regarding Crull's appointment.