In 2014, VideoAge spoke with Sean Cohan in New York City for an article titled, “A Frank Talk with A&E Networks’ Sean Cohan.” At that time, Cohan was its executive vice president. Ten years later, VideoAge found Cohan in Toronto, where he serves as president of Bell Media, part of Canada’s largest Telco. This time around, our frank talk was very different as it happened in a different media landscape and environment. Also different was the fact that, before our new talk, via videoconference, Cohan’s associates asked for a set of questions/topics to be sent in advance (something that they apparently require for all interviews). Despite this, Cohan’s associates were very helpful in verifying the background information that VideoAge collected on Bell Media, some of which was incorrect.
VideoAge had reconnected with Cohan on the Fox Studios lot during the L.A. Screenings in May, with a commitment to meet in New York City during the summer, before his move to Toronto. The commitment couldn’t be kept and the in-person interview became a videoconference talk from Toronto in late August with his assistant Sara McLaren recording the proceedings.
The 50-year-old Cohan assumed the Bell Media presidency in November 2023 after a stint as Chief Growth Officer & President at Nielsen, the global measurement and data analytics group. Before moving to Nielsen in 2020, Cohan had left the position of president, International and Digital Media, A+E Networks, toward the end of 2018.
Ten years ago, the issues facing Cohan were how crowded the TV channel business panorama was, how costly it had become to enter, how competitive it was, and how unclear the digital future was.
He also had issues with local hurdles in the form of a country’s rules and regulations for content requirements, protection of indigenous channels, ownership limitations, and other obligations. Examples of restrictions were provided by Canada’s regulatory agency, the CRTC, and Chinese regulators.
At Bell Media, Cohan’s challenges will instead be aided by Canada’s CRTC regulations. According to Cohan the regulator will “level the playing field in Canada and global streamers will be required to contribute to the Canadian broadcast system.”
Indeed, starting September 2024 foreign streamers must contribute five percent of their annual Canadian revenues into a fund devoted to producing Canadian content, including local TV and radio news, as well as Indigenous and French-language content.
In June, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said that streaming companies that are not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster — and that make at least $25 million in Canadian revenue — would be required to pay into the fund, which is expected to inject about C$200 million into the system every year.
Meanwhile, global streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ are challenging the CRTC’s regulatory directive, which is an Online Streaming Act approved by the Canadian Parliament that is meant to contribute money to Canada’s broadcast sector.
However, Cohan will still be facing many of the other hurdles that he faced a decade ago, if only under different circumstances. Plus, he has to survive the tech mentality that wants to manage creative businesses inside utility businesses, and which helped turn other Telcos that made tech-related inroads into the content business into failures. Examples of that include the ill-fated Japan-based Matsushita’s acquisition of Universal Studios in 1990, the disastrous take-over of Argentina’s Telefé by Spain’s Telefonica in 1999, and the fatal AOL-Warner Bros. merger in 2000. The bad examples continued with AT&T acquiring Warner Bros. in 2018.
As The Wall Street Journal reported in its August 24, 2024 edition, “If you’re working at a utility company, maybe the CEO doesn’t matter much, but if you’re working for Apple CEOs matter a lot.”
Cohan is the fifth Bell Media president, the second American, but the first with TV content experience. Kevin Crull, an American who came from the Internet, mobile, and satellite TV side of the industry, was president from 2011 to 2015. Mary Ann Turcke, an engineer, served as president from 2015 to 2017. Music executive Randy Lennox was president from 2017 until early 2020. And Wade Oosterman came from the Internet and mobile phone side of the business. He was president from 2021 to 2023.
Cohan tackled the Telco-content question head on. “Yes, there are two separate cultures,” he said, but “my job is to cultivate those two cultures and create a cultural bridge.” After all, he explained, “both sides have consumer knowledge, and we’re collaborating on new forms of marketing and advertising.” It helps that Cohan is also an officer of Bell Canada (BCE), and he’s grateful that there is BCE appreciation for someone like him who has experience in content and data. Plus, he said that BCE is not new in the content business “since they owned Bell Media for over a decade.”
Bell Media began when Bell Canada fully acquired the national CTV television network in 2010. While BCE is headquartered in Montreal, Bell Media’s main office is housed in the former CHUM building in Toronto.
Today, CTV comprises 20 O & O stations and two privately owned affiliates. CTV competes with Global TV Network, owned by Corus Entertainment, a media holding of JR Shaw. Bell Media also operates CTV-2, comprised of seven O&O stations and six O&O Noovo (terrestrial French-language TV networks owned by Bell Media in Quebec) stations. Both CTV and CTV-2 are under Stewart Johnston, SVP, Content and Sales. Bell Media has four pay-TV channels and five streaming services, including flagship Crave, which has 3.1 million subscribers. In addition, it has 25 specialty channels, 10 FAST channels (seven in English and three in French), and 103 radio stations.
Bell Media production entities are scattered among its sports and news division, and its live daily productions for CTV.
In distribution the picture is a bit foggier. The only information provided was that Bell Media is “a partner” of Canadian production house Sphere Media, which acquired U.K.-based content distributor Abacus Media Rights. On the books, Bell Media has a Bell Media Studios and a Bell Media Distribution, but neither one will be exhibiting at MIPCOM. Instead, Cohan will be walking around the Palais as a participant, since Bell Media “is also a major buyer and a commissioner.”
He said that he has a “respected partner in Abacus,” and that “we’re going to help rebrand Canadian content, making it a global recognized brand partnering with the best creative. And distribution will be part of the story. We’re going to be more active in international distribution.” Cohan expects “the distribution market to be healthy,” and to be making “great global Canadian content that travels, and be available across all platforms.” After all, he said, “I know a couple of things about distribution.” Plus, “Canada is a diverse place, and Toronto is the most international city in the world.”
When we pointed out that Canada has supplied talents (above and below the line) to Hollywood, and asked how he plans to keep some of it in the country, Cohan answered that he doesn’t care where the Canadian talent lives.
However, BCE has shown appreciation for the global model envisioned by Cohan. He said that his primary challenge is to “drive a transformation from a legacy broadcast model to a digital content media leadership position,” and to figure out whether streaming is better under a pay model or it’s better to make money in the advertising market.
In terms of numbers, in 2023, Bell Media’s operating revenues reached C$3.117 billion (U.S.$2.27 billion) versus C$3.254 billion in 2022. Adjusted earnings in 2023 hit C$697million (U.S. $507 million). But the challenge is not to recoup the 4.2 percent revenue drop, but to put its scattered revenue streams in order.
If the challenges are comparable to when Cohan took on a leadership role at A&E, the size of the businesses are not. Bell Media has 5,000 employees compared with A&E Networks’ 1,000-plus workforce, and while Bell Media’s revenue reached C$3.12 billion under Cohan, A&E Networks generated $2 billion in annual sales.
(By Dom Serafini)
Audio Version (a DV Works service)
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