It’s official – the first offspring of the bce/ctv union has been born and named.

As of Jan. 9, ctv, The Globe and Mail, Globe Interactive and Sympatico have been unified under the Bell Globemedia umbrella and the leadership of president and ceo Ivan Fecan.

‘I see them as a collection of tribes. And I don’t necessarily believe bigger is better, but it can be if you use economies of scale to strengthen the voices of the individual tribes, which will increase the quality of products and provide solutions to advertisers,’ says Fecan.

Taking a cue from Jean Monty, who holds the positions of bce ceo and Bell Canada ceo, Fecan will also retain his title and some of his duties as ceo of ctv.

Nonetheless, Fecan’s move into his new position has paved the way for a handful of key promotions, including the appointment of Trina McQueen, former ctv executive vp, to the position of president and coo.

Susanne Boyce, ctv’s former senior vp of programming, has been appointed president of ctv programming and chair of the new media group. In her new capacity, she will co-ordinate the programming activities of ctv services with Rick Brace, the newly appointed president of Netstar Communications, handling the Netstar properties – Discovery Channel, Outdoor Life Network, Viewer’s Choice Canada, Le Reseau des Sports and tsn.

Robin Fillingham, formerly executive vp and cfo of ctv, has been named vp and chief administrative officer of bg, and Janet Callaghan, a managing partner with The Media Company, has been appointed group senior vp, integrated marketing.

Monty is bg’s chairman of the board.

Fecan says he doesn’t anticipate any layoffs as a result of the bce takeover; rather, he relishes the potential opportunities that may be born of the telecommunications giant’s technological expertise in the field of broadband and wireless.

The new media group, 70.1% owned by bce, 20% owned by Thomson Corp. and 9.9% owned by The Woodbridge Company, will have 2001 pro forma revenues of $1.25 billion.

The company will have roughly 4,000 employees across Canada (ctv, 2,000; The Globe and Mail, 1,000; Netstar Communications, 700; and Sympatico, 300), with news bureaus or television stations from St. John’s to Victoria. *

-www.bce-ctv.com