TORONTO -- It may not be perfect, but John Bitove Jr. has a pretty impressive record of bringing big things to Canada.
From spearheading successful bids for the world indoor track and field championships, world basketball championships and Toronto Raptors a decade ago to heading his hometown's unsuccessful Olympic bid earlier this decade, the entrepreneur is known as a guy who can close a deal.
Nowadays, his time is divided between two separate ventures -- trying to launch satellite radio in this country and fried chicken. As different as they appear, they have one thing in common: Both are about to endure considerable change.
But the 44-year-old entrepreneur isn't nervous. He trusts his senior management, and he takes a long-term attitude toward both projects, which he insists will lead to success.
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"It allows everyone to rally around a central goal, to attract higher talent because they can understand that this isn't some short-term thing and, in my mind, it stops stupid short-term decisions from being made," he explained in an interview from his office overlooking Toronto's harbourfront.
"Too many companies run quarter to quarter as opposed to what's in the long-term interest of shareholders and employees."
Mr. Bitove -- who received an undergraduate degree in marketing from Indiana University and a law degree from the University of Windsor -- has wanted to delve into the high-profile world of broadcasting for years, but found it difficult to break into the sector because it is controlled by a handful of families.
Then in 2001, only a few days after Toronto lost the Olympic bid to Beijing, he was on a plane to London and read a magazine article about satellite radio (a subscription-based service that beams out superior quality and mostly commercial-free audio programming to special receivers). He ripped out the article, and within two weeks was in New York meeting with the two big U.S. satellite radio players: XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
His company has since signed an alliance with XM while a competing bid by Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and private broadcaster Standard Broadcasting Inc. has teamed with Sirius. The CRTC is mulling licensing requests from Mr. Bitove's company, the CBC-Standard group and a bid for another type of digital subscription radio service from CHUM Ltd. and Astral Media Inc.
While it's unclear which way the CRTC is leaning, one thing is certain: The face of the Canadian broadcasting industry is about to change.
"If someone else has it, why shouldn't we have it?" asked Mr. Bitove, whose official title is chairman and chief executive officer of Canadian Satellite Radio Inc.
"Just because we live north of the Americans or west of Europe doesn't mean that we shouldn't have the same standard of living or benefits. I feel we have a lot more to contribute globally than some of those other places.
"There are rural Canadians who are going to get choice in audio programming, whether they're in Frobisher Bay or Whitehorse, that they're not going to get any other way. It's not fair that just because you live in Toronto you get more choice than if you live in Flin Flon."
It's that sort of passion that former partner Allan Slaight -- who, coincidentally, is founder and executive chairman of satellite radio rival Standard Broadcasting -- mentions over and over when discussing his dealings with Mr. Bitove.
"He's a good guy and a great partner . . . he's quite imaginative and quite fun to be with," Mr. Slaight says. "I can't say enough good things about him."
Mr. Bitove and Mr. Slaight each controlled 39.5 per cent of the Raptors during its early years. However, after a dispute over where the team would play, Mr. Bitove was booted out of the front office when Mr. Slaight invoked a "shotgun clause" in their partnership agreement that forced Mr. Bitove to sell his stake for $55-million (U.S.).
Today, Mr. Bitove describes his relationship with Mr. Slaight as amicable and notes that he is good friends with Gary Slaight, Allan's son, who now runs Standard Broadcasting's day-to-day operations.
But vying for satellite radio isn't the only thing on Mr. Bitove's plate: He is also the majority owner, chairman and CEO of Priszm Canadian Income Fund -- one of the largest fast-food companies in Canada with 411 KFC outlets and 60 multibranded restaurants that combine KFC with Pizza Hut or Taco Bell peppered across seven provinces.
