Speaker Colette Watson

SPEAKERS

Colette Watson

President

Rogers Sports & Media

As President of Rogers Sports & Media, Colette Watson is responsible for the company’s $2 billion business and approximately 2,800 employees across Canada with a dynamic roster of sports and entertainment brands. Under her leadership are more than 50 radio stations, 67 community TV channels, 31 conventional and specialty television channels including the likes of Citytv, Bravo, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, and Sportsnet – Canada’s #1 sports network, e-commerce with TSC (Today’s Shopping Choice), and more.

A highly respected trailblazer in the Canadian media industry, Colette has been with Rogers for more than three decades in a variety of senior roles across the Media, Regulatory, and Cable divisions. She first joined Rogers in 1990 as the company’s Ottawa Bureau Chief and went on to transform the Rogers TV community channel business and revamp programming affiliations & pay-per-view operations.

Since returning to Rogers in 2022 as the newly appointed President of Rogers Sports & Media, Colette has successfully led one of Canada’s most powerful media companies to growth through bold and significant moves. Cementing the company’s leadership position in sports, Colette helped spearhead the efforts of Rogers recent renewal of its partnership with the NHL, securing a landmark 12-year renewal agreement for the national media rights to NHL games on all platforms in Canada. This is in addition to long-term regional rights deals with the Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames – all of which have been renewed under her leadership.

Colette was fundamental in Rogers blockbuster multi-year deals with NBCUniversal and Warner Bros Discovery for its U.S. lifestyle content and brands including Bravo, Food Network, HGTV, and Discovery, among others.

Passionate about public affairs, policy, and the future of objective journalism in today’s media landscape, Colette spent 20 years also leading CPAC, the Cable Public Affairs Channel, the not-for-profit, bilingual, public affairs channel in her dual role at Rogers and as President of CPAC until 2022.    

A driving force behind industry change, Colette is a past recipient of the esteemed Trailblazer of the Year award by Canadian Women in Communications. 

Speaking on: State of the Nation

At the Banff Media Festival, we met with Netflix and took a ride up Sulphur Mountain on the gondola. That’s where we made the pitch.
- Naveen Prasad, EVP and GM, Elevation Pictures
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All BANFF landscape and event photos courtesy of Kristian Bogner Photography.

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