Keith Pelley, president of Rogers MediaDeborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
It's fun, it's colourful, it's his expensive new toy. Keith Pelley loves his iPad, but at the moment the new president of Rogers Media Inc. can't read any of his own company's magazines on the tablet.
That's about to change. The industry is being reshaped by new technologies such as the iPad and other tablet devices coming to market, and with the Canadian magazine industry still lacking a major presence on the device, Mr. Pelley is racing to get Rogers into the apps game.
"How many apps can you do in a short period of time, is the discussion right now," Mr. Pelley said in an interview on Monday. "[In]2011, from a publishing perspective, we'll be very active on the iPad."
The company isn't lagging behind entirely. CITY-TV was the first Canadian network (and still the only one) to make its shows available through an iPad app. For now, it's just in its test stages, Mr. Pelley says - a way for Rogers to watch the watchers, and figure out how its customers are consuming video on new platforms.
"I think overall, when you talk about the next three to five years, there will be a lot of pressure and a lot of attention given to the way we measure people's media consumption," he said. "… Capitalizing on that will absolutely be a focus on a go-forward basis."
New technologies are not the only challenge facing the media executive. Two weeks into his new job, Mr. Pelley got his first taste of just how far beyond the boardroom his duties would take him.
It was a busy Wednesday in late September, and Mr. Pelley's workday began in a meeting about television content at the Rogers offices in downtown Toronto. From there, he was shunted off to Brampton for a tour of the 58,000-square-foot warehouse that is the hub of retail operations for The Shopping Channel. His day ended back in the city's core, at the Rogers Centre, watching the Blue Jays' last game under the management of Cito Gaston.
It was a fast-paced shuffle among the properties Mr. Pelley is now responsible for; and the day didn't even touch on the more than 70 magazines and 54 radio stations that now operate under his watch.
Now finishing his second month at Rogers after taking over from former chief Tony Viner, Mr. Pelley says he believes the wide scope of the company's media business could also be its strength in the future.
"All of the brands have to be fully integrated with each other to harness the power of the assets," he said. "… CHFI certainly doesn't talk a lot about what's prime time on CITY."
But strength in media these days involves far more than cross-promotion, and Mr. Pelley is not the only executive looking to set himself apart. Every TV network in Canada is under new management. Rogers, which owns CITY, scored a coup when it lured Mr. Pelley - who had led the broadcast consortium for both companies at the Vancouver Olympics - from the executive offices of CTV Inc. in August to run Rogers Media. Shaw Media, the new name of the CanWest television assets and owner of the Global television network, has a new president in Paul Robertson and its parent company has a new chief executive officer with Brad Shaw taking over from his brother, Jim. CTV is awaiting regulatory approval to be acquired by BCE Inc., and Monday was incoming chief operating officer Kevin Crull's first day on the job, as he prepares to take over from Ivan Fecan as president when the deal closes.
"What an interesting time, eh?" Mr. Pelley said gleefully. "All these new guys. … And we're going to compete feverishly."
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IN HIS WORDS
On exclusivity
Even though media companies are increasingly owned by cable and telecom giants, Rogers is not in favour of keeping content exclusive to one company's mobile phones or other new devices.
"I'd find it surprising that content of national interest, i.e. the Olympics, will ever be not available to all Canadians on any platform … [and]you could potentially need six cellphones to get all the content."
On the iPad
With the Audit Bureau of Circulations including digital editions in a magazine's circulation numbers, and media companies carefully watching customers' video consumption on new devices, the future clearly includes digital.
"I think overall, when you talk about the next three to five years, there will be a lot of pressure and a lot of attention given to the way we measure people's media consumption. … Capitalizing on that will absolutely be a focus on a go-forward basis."
On TV rights
Launching video - whether on the iPad, on-demand or online - means negotiating with the U.S. studios that make many of the most popular TV shows.
"You can't talk about television any more, you can't talk about radio, you can't talk about mobile. You can talk about content. We're all content providers. … You're going to need [rights]against all platforms in order to actually make the business model work."