Canadian Media Myths Debunked With Bell Media Chief Sean Cohan

Hollywood loves to shoot in Canada. The major networks and studios eagerly court co-production deals with Canadian media entities, and the majors really love to license new TV series and movies to the nation’s top TV outlets for big Canadian dollars.

But even with more business activity flowing along the 5,500-plus mile border shared by the U.S. and Canada, how much do most TV and film industry insiders know about their neighbor’s media marketplace? Not that well, as Sean Cohan has found out in the 20 months since the veteran U.S. TV executive took the reins of Toronto-based Bell Media.

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On the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” Cohan details the reasons that he moved up north to lead the entertainment arm of publicly traded Bell Canada Enterprises, or BCE.

At Bell Media, Cohan sees opportunity for “a globally unique set of assets, brands, content and people.” He joined the company in 2023, after logging 15 years as a distribution and international executive for A+E Networks and spending several years at Nielsen running the measurement firm’s international team as well as M&A strategy and marketing around its digital businesses.

Today, Cohan steers a company that is like Canada’s version of NBCUniversal — with a well-established broadcast network (CTV), premium streamer (Crave), sports cabler TSN and other destination linear channels, as well as radio stations and outdoor advertising assets. Bell Media parent company BCE is the nation’s largest cable operation, as is NBCU parent Comcast.

Listen to the full podcast:

“I think with Bell Media, but I also think of that in with Canada generally, the market is misunderstood and underestimated in the global media ecosystem,” Cohan said of his move to Bell Media. “That was attractive.”

Cohan details the parallels and contrasts of Canada’s media ecosystem compared with its larger neighbor to the south. The same trends of cord-cutting and social media diffusion are affecting Canadian broadcasters and streamers. But the pace of the decline is slower. And with a population of 40 million, Bell Media has roots and established franchises to be a constant in the lives of its viewers.

“We own these giant pop-culture moments, and these big events of consequence,” Cohan said. “We lead across sports, entertainment and news. So whether it’s the Super Bowl or the Oscars or a national election, or a Montreal-based [Formula 1 race] or any number of events. So one thing we offer creative partners and advertisers alike is this rich, engaged audience and a tremendous amount of insight around that audience.”

“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes debut every Wednesday and can be accessed at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.

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