Courtesy the Toronto Star

(November 11, 2010) Former head of CBC Sports Scott Moore, who announced Tuesday he was leaving the public broadcaster, has joined Rogers Media as its president of broadcasting.

Moore, who initially did not give a reason for his sudden departure, said Wednesday the offer from Rogers was “too good of an opportunity to turn down.”

He will oversee the company’s television stations, including Citytv, Sportsnet and OMNI, as well as all of the company’s radio properties.

Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth also announced Tuesday that he would be leaving the network before the New Year, which immediately fuelled speculation that Moore would replace him.

Moore called the CBC “an essential part of the Canadian cultural landscape,” but given “where the [media] business is going” — with regards to increased streaming of content on mobile devices and the Internet — and the fact that telecommunications companies are working more collaboratively with media, it was the right time to move.

“I believe [Rogers] has some exciting future plans that I want to be part of.”

Moore said he looked forward to working with Keith Pelley, who led the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium for CTV, and was named president of Rogers Media in August.

The two veteran sports media executives began their careers together in the mid-1980s at TSN and have worked together sporadically since that time.

Moore also said Wednesday that contrary to media speculation, his decision had nothing to do with the fact he was not tapped to replace Richard Stursberg, who resigned as head of CBC’s English Services in August.

“I was never interested in that job,” Moore said, adding that he has always supported Stursberg’s interim replacement Kirstine Stewart. “It’s a far different job than what I’m going to. It requires a fully different skill set of what I thought I had.”

Moore said his greatest accomplishment since joining CBC Sports in 2007 was changing the attitude of the company, which was stinging from a number of major defeats, including the loss of broadcasting rights for the CFL and curling.

“When I came in they felt that maybe they were getting out of the sports business and I thought an important thing was to put some pride back into the CBC Sports brand.”

Moore said the biggest challenges for his successor will be preparing the next Olympic Games bid — which will happen sometime in the next six to eight months.

CBC lost the 2010 and 2012 Olympic broadcasting rights to a joint bid by CTVglobemedia and Rogers Media, which broadcast the Vancouver Games across the two companies’ various channels.

Moore said there is no urgency to renewing CBC’s NHL broadcasting rights because Hockey Night in Canada’s contract with the NHL runs until 2014.

“But making sure that that remains an important part of the CBC schedule as the longest running sports television program in the history of the world … will be a challenge because the landscape will be different in 2014. Nobody’s quite sure what the landscape will look like then.”

Moore said he could not comment on what Rogers and Sportsnet’s plans were regarding future bids for NHL — “I haven’t walked in the door yet; I’m not sure what the strategy is there yet.”

CBC Sports senior director David Masse will take over Moore’s director role on an interim basis; and Jack Tomik will lead the CBC Revenue Group, which is responsible for marketing, sales and business development.

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