Canwest is looking for a new broadcasting president now that Kathy Dore says she will step down when her contract expires near the end of the year.

For Dore, four years was enough time to retool the Canadian broadcaster and to be away from her family in New York City.

‘My husband and family are in the States, and we both feel like we’d like to spend a little more time together and get re-acquainted,’ says the American exec.

Dore explains she made a four-year commitment to Canwest when she came on board in October 2004, and declined to renew her contract beyond a few months when the topic came up during recent discussions with Canwest president and CEO Leonard Asper.

Dore leaves Canwest as its Global Television network is still trying to close a gap in primetime with ratings-leader CTV – her goal when Canwest hired her away from running U.S. specialty channels including American Movie Classics, IFC and Women’s Entertainment to replace Gerry Noble as head of its Canadian TV and radio operations.

In an industry where the fortunes of conventional broadcasters are largely determined by output deals with Hollywood suppliers, Dore managed to increase Global’s presence in the top 10 and top 20 charts with series such as Heroes, Prison Break and House.

‘They [Canwest] fundamentally have a good product, and they have good sales policies and practices. I think they have a good breadth of product: cable, conventional, newspapers. Now they need someone who can take all that and have people rally around,’ says Sunni Boot, president and CEO of media buyer ZenithOptimedia.

Dore’s other high points include rebranding Global Television and partnering with CBS Paramount to create ET Canada.

As she gets set to pack her bags for a return stateside, Dore insists it’s time to allow her successor to make his or her own mark on Canwest.

‘The truth is, I think all of this is a journey, not a destination. My section of the journey is coming to a close, and in fairness to Canwest, someone needs to have the opportunity to get in and get started and feel they can impact the future,’ she says.

Dore will remain at Canwest during the search for her replacement, to ensure a seamless transition.

Her departure comes as a soft advertising market, recent labor instability stateside, continued stiff competition from CTV and the need for cost-cutting after the Alliance Atlantis acquisition have all put pressure on Canwest’s advertising-dependent business.

That pressure has sent the stock of parent Canwest Global Communications into a steep decline of late, and prompted talk of possible privatization.

But in a statement Asper said Dore had ‘positioned the company for growth going forward through both her strategic initiatives and strong leadership,’ and that she was leaving the company with momentum behind it.

ZenithOptimedia’s Boot agrees with that assessment.

‘I think Canwest will do just fine, in spite of this,’ she says of Dore’s departure.