Village Gamer

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) today proudly announced that Nancy Dubuc, President and CEO of A+E Networks, will present the Opening Keynote at the 36th Banff World Media Festival, being held June 7-10, 2015. Dubuc will address the company’s leading role in the scripted and unscripted landscape, its progressive business models, and its position as a game changer in the industry.

Representing this year’s esteemed Company of Distinction, executives, producers, and talent from A+E Networks will be featured during the four-day Festival in a variety of facets throughout the event.  Each year the Company of Distinction program allows BANFF to pay homage to a company demonstrating significant leadership in the world of screen-based entertainment.

Under Dubuc’s leadership, the A+E Networks’ portfolio has established two of the top ten entertainment brands, HISTORY and A&E, and two of the leading women’s brands in Lifetime and LMN. Dubuc has also received multiple Emmy® awards and nominations, and has been named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for the last two years by Fortune Magazine. The Hollywood Reporter has annually named her one of the Top Five Most Powerful on their Power 100 Top Women in Entertainment list and Variety has featured Dubuc in their annual Women’s Impact Report.

As part of the program at BANFF 2015, Dubuc will also appear at the first inaugural Women’s Power Lunch at BANFF, an invite-only special event, which she will co-host with Barbara Williams, Executive Vice President of Broadcasting, President of Shaw Media and the Chair of the Banff Foundation Board of Directors.

A+E Networks was founded in 1984 and began as two cable channels. Thirty years later, it leads the global entertainment industry with a portfolio of brands and premium content that pushes boundaries and crosses borders and platforms.  With an original, fiery entrepreneurial spirit, the company reaches over 330 million viewers in more than 200 territories worldwide and 500 million digital users, and is responsible for a number of iconic series including Vikings, Bates Motel, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Dance Moms, Duck Dynasty and The Bible.  In September, A+E Networks acquired a 10% minority stake in VICE Media and its continuing growth has been fueled by diversification into TV series built around the company’s innovative business model, original content for digital platforms, selective forays into broadcast network series, and a growing presence in nonfiction programming.

A+E Networks first entered the Canadian market in 1984 with the launch of A&E.  Through partnerships with some of Canada’s biggest media companies, A+E Networks’ presence has grown to seven channel brands today.  A+E Networks commitment to Canada further extends to the production industry with over 250 hours of scripted and unscripted series, movies and miniseries produced and shot in Canada in the past year.

“A+E Networks is proud to be one of the first cable channels to launch in Canada, and our commitment to the market has continued to grow over the past 30 years,” said Dubuc.  “We have had a longstanding partnership with BANFF, and we are honored to be recognized as the Company of Distinction at this year’s Festival.”

“We are honoured to feature A+E Networks as our 2015 Company of Distinction, and thrilled that Nancy Dubuc will deliver the Opening Keynote,” said Ferne Cohen, Executive Director of the Banff World Media Festival. “The contributions that A+E Networks has made under Nancy Dubuc’s leadership have been exemplary, and we know that our delegates will be very enthusiastic to hear firsthand how A+E Networks has been able to find such great success in this constantly evolving media landscape.”