Former BCE chief Jean MontyFred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Jean Monty is resisting the urge to say "I told you so."
The former head of BCE Inc., who resigned as chief executive officer in 2002 amid questions about the telecommunications giant's diversification strategy, said Friday that he doesn't want to toot his horn in pointing out that he was the one who first orchestrated the foray into multimedia.
"I'm not going to say, 'I told you so,'" Mr. Monty said in an interview after the blockbuster announcement that Montreal-based BCE is taking full ownership of the CTV television and specialty channel network in a $1.3-billion deal.
But he added: "It's unfortunate that we had to wait for [multimedia strategies]to become obvious. The last four or five years have been lost."
Under Mr. Monty in 2000, BCE bought CTV and other multimedia assets in a bid to be a major player in the so-called world of "convergence," wrapping the network into a company with The Globe and Mail.
Mr. Monty - who is now involved in investment management - said the strategy he initiated was probably ahead of its time.
"Unfortunately, the people who followed me didn't believe in it," he said, referring to the subsequent decision by his successor Michael Sabia to return Bell Canada back to its core business.
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