Rogers hires Rick Brace as new president of media business

Rick Brace

Rogers Communications Inc. has hired Rick Brace, a veteran broadcasting executive with a deep sports pedigree, as the new president of its media business, seeking to make the most of its multibillion-dollar bet on NHL hockey rights and ownership stakes in baseball’s Blue Jays and hockey’s Maple Leafs, The Globe and Mail's James Bradshaw reports.

Starting Aug. 10,  Brace will head up Rogers’ entire media arm, a $1.8-billion business that includes the City and Omni television networks, a large stable of radio stations and more than 50 publishing titles. But it is his long history with TSN and CBC Sports – key competitors to Rogers-owned Sportsnet – that stands out.

He will succeed Keith Pelley, who announced in April that he will be leaving to take over as commissioner and CEO of the European Tour, a professional golf circuit.

“Rick is a seasoned business leader with strong operational experience and a passion for the media industry that’s second to none,” Rogers CEO Guy Laurence said in a statement. “He’s highly skilled at developing strong teams who perform, so he was the natural choice to tackle the challenges facing the media industry.”

Most recently,  Brace was head of specialty channels and CTV production for Bell Media. He cut his teeth as a producer and director with CBC Sports before moving to TSN in 1986, where he oversaw coverage of the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary and rose through the ranks, becoming president of the network in 1998. (Bell Media’s parent company, BCE Inc., owns 15 per cent of The Globe and Mail.)