Trina McQueen has left her post as president at Discovery Channel for the role of executive vice-president at ctv. In her new role she will oversee programming, sales and operations of the ctv network, its stations and affiliated specialty channels.

McQueen’s history in Canadian television is very eclectic, highlighted most recently by her role as president at the time of the 1995 launch of Discovery Channel. But she says the move to ctv should come as little surprise to those who have monitored her career.

‘I don’t think I have ever had a job for more than four years in my life and I’ve been with Discovery six years, going on seven,’ McQueen says. ‘Discovery needed some fresh ideas and so did I. While I was kind of thinking about that but not doing too much about it – because it is really wonderful here at Discovery – Ivan (Fecan, President and ceo of ctv) offered me the job and that was just great.’

McQueen says her affiliation with Discovery ended when she arrived at ctv, regardless of the pending decision by the crtc regarding the transfer of NetStar and Discovery to ctv. Her new responsibilities as executive vp will keep her hands full, and she says she finds the assignment both exciting and terrifying.

‘I’m excited because I think ctv has the assets and the team to be the most interesting place in Canadian television for the next five or 10 years. There’s a willingness there to do things differently, to have big ideas and to grow in different ways.’

Although McQueen has succeeded at many of the duties that now go with her ctv title, she admits a lot has changed during her time at Discovery where she dealt almost exclusively with documentary and non-fiction programming.

‘I really don’t know the difference between Felicity and Tom Green and I am going to have to do a lot of getting up to speed,’ she laughs, saying that life beyond Discovery will be a welcome challenge. ‘There has been a huge amount of change at ctv and I am sort of plunging into the deep end of the lake. That’s part of the terror.’

McQueen also worked at the cbc for 25 years, starting as an on-air host and reporter, working her way up to vp television news, current affairs and Newsworld. She also helped to launch CBC Newsworld.

McQueen actually began her career however, at ctv, where she cohosted the long-running public affairs program W-Five.

Ken Murphy, Discovery’s vp of production and administration, has been named new president of Discovery Channel. He has been with Discovery since its inception.

Other changes in the Discovery company directory include Meg Pinto, who has been bumped from vp, sales and marketing, to senior vp of sales and marketing. Paul Lewis has been named vp, programming, leaving his post as executive producer of in-house production. John Panikkar has been promoted to vp of production from director of programming.

One of McQueen’s final duties at Discovery was to oversee the plans for the coming season in which most of the new series – five of seven – are Canadian produced. Discovery will start airing new programs with the launch of its new season Sept. 6.

The new Canadian series include Wild Encounters from Karvonen Films (which also produces the new Discovery special Land of the Ice Bear, airing in December); Path of the Gods from John McGreevy Productions; The Ocean Mosaic from renowned underwater cinematographer John Stoneman; The Sex Files from Discovery’s Exploration Productions and the docusoap Downtown Angel of Medicine produced by Atlantic 2.

McQueen says Discovery is excited about Downtown Angel of Medicine, which is filmed entirely at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital. The 13-episode, half-hour series documents the procedures, patients and doctors within the hospital’s walls.

Also new is the miniseries Machine Gun, from Toronto’s High Road Productions, tracing the evolution of weapons and those who use them.