BCE says head of its Bell Media unit leaves for NFL job

TORONTO (Reuters) – The head of BCE Inc’s Bell Media unit has left the Canadian company to take a job at the National Football League, BCE said on Monday.

Mary Ann Turcke will be replaced by Randy Lennox, a former chief executive of Universal Music Canada, the company said in a statement.

The role covers strategy and operations for conventional, pay and specialty television, radio, digital media, out-of-home advertising and special projects.

Turcke, a 12-year BCE employee, was promoted to head the company’s media division in April 2015 after its former head was axed after interfering in news coverage.

She will move to Los Angeles for the NFL role as president for digital media and the NFL Network, BCE said.

BCE holds the Canadian broadcasting rights for most NFL content, including the Super Bowl.

The company earlier this month said its ratings for the big game fell 39 percent from a year ago after a broadcast regulator ruled it could no longer substitute its commercials into U.S. feeds available in the country.

Bell Media is reducing its radio and television industry workforce in more than two dozen locations across the country, it said in late January.

Canadian television providers have struggled to deal with competition from online streaming services such as Netflix Inc, as well as a migration of advertising to online sources, where Google and Facebook Inc dominate.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)