Rogers Sports and Media president Colette Watson in Toronto on April, 2025.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Colette Watson, the head of Rogers Communications Inc.’s RCI-B-T sports and media division, is retiring after 35 years with the company, as Rogers prepares for major changes in its sports ownership strategy.
Since 2022, Ms. Watson has been president of Rogers Sports and Media, overseeing 2,800 employees working in the company’s radio, television and streaming divisions, including Sportsnet.
Ms. Watson held a range of senior roles across the company’s media, regulatory and cable divisions. She first joined the company in 1990 as the company’s Ottawa bureau chief, and she went on to become vice-president of Rogers Television and later senior vice-president of broadcast television and operations.
In addition to her work at Rogers, she served as president of the Cable Public Affairs Channel, a Canadian specialty television channel devoted to coverage of public and government affairs, which is owned by a consortium of broadcast companies, including Rogers.
Ms. Watson “has helped shape everything from content and channel lineup to the policies that govern them,” Rogers spokesperson Sarah Schmidt said in a statement.
“She’s led Rogers Sports & Media, making blockbuster deals and critical investments to build Rogers into a sports and entertainment powerhouse. We wish Colette all the best in her upcoming retirement,” Ms. Schmidt said.
Ms. Watson will leave her position on May 15 and will continue to serve as adviser until the fall, the company said.
According to the company, Ms. Watson was instrumental in the recent re-signing of the agreement with the National Hockey League. Last year, Rogers renewed its deal with the NHL for exclusive national broadcast rights for its games over 12 years. It is paying $11-billion for the rights, more than double what it paid for its previous deal signed in 2013.
Ms. Watson is departing the company just months before it has the right to acquire the final outstanding stake it doesn’t already own of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors teams.
Analysts have suggested that the deal could be worth upward of $4-billion.
Rogers is still assessing how it plans to monetize these assets, in a deal that could include the sale of a minority stake or a public share offering. The company said in regulatory filings it anticipates that its final choice of transaction “could occur within the next 12 months.”
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In 2025, Rogers earned revenue of $3.2-billion from media, up 47 per cent from the prior year owing in part to the inclusion for the first time of MLSE’s full-year financials, as Rogers became its majority shareholder last year.
The company also benefitted from the Toronto Blue Jays’ postseason success, and higher advertising revenue related to the launch of its Warner Bros. Discovery suite of channels early last year.
The company’s margin on its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization improved to 7.3 per cent in 2025, from 3.9 per cent the prior year.
Like other telecom and broadcast companies, Rogers has been transitioning from linear, traditional media delivery to digital and steaming options, after the decline of cable subscribers and changes to media consumption.