Glenn O’Farrell is calling it quits as Canadian Association of Broadcasters president and CEO. O’Farrell on Monday said he’ll leave his post in early 2009 after tending the crease for private broadcasters in Ottawa since January 2002.

‘It’s never easy to move on from something you passionately believe in, but after seven years and a lot of thought, I have concluded it’s time for me to take on new challenges,’ O’Farrell explained.

During his CAB tenure, O’Farrell has stick-handled regulatory issues for private broadcasters as they transitioned from analog to digital, and pursued long-awaited copyright reform legislation and tariff issues with the Canadian Copyright Board.

He leaves CAB after conventional broadcasters this fall failed to secure a CRTC go-ahead for subscriber fees from cable and satellite TV operators.

O’Farrell began lobbying for private broadcasters after a stint as SVP of specialty services at Global Television, and before that as VP of legal affairs for Le Réseau Pathonic, a network of TVA affiliate stations outside of Montreal.