Year Born: 1943
Year Died: 2014
Year of Induction: 2000
Member of CAB Hall of Fame
Silkans, Juris (1943-2014)
Juris Silkans entry to broadcasting occurred in 1975 when he was appointed Director of Cable and New Service Policy for the Department of Communications, Ottawa. He came to the private sector in 1978 when CUC Broadcasting Limited, one of Canada’s largest multiple system cable television operators, named him Vice-President, Programming. Subsequently, CUC appointed him Senior Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Regulatory Matters.
In 1994, Juris joined Atlantis Communications Inc. as Vice-President, Strategic Planning. One year later, he became President of Atlantis Broadcasting Inc. the owner and operator of TV specialty services – the Life Network and HGTV Canada. Juris had founded the Life Network in 1993, and was its President from 1994 to 1999. He was also President of Home and Garden Television Canada (HGTV) from its launch in 1997 to 1999.
In May 1999, Juris was appointed President of Alliance Atlantis New Media, a division of Alliance Atlantis Communications. One year later, he left Alliance Atlantis to join a new media company – E-TV Interactive Technologies Inc, a supplier of commerce-enabled television programming and related services, enabling the viewer-consumer to conveniently make purchases and payments through the TV digital set-up box, using the TV remote control. Implementation awaits the approval of the company’s application for a Category 1 digital licence by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Juris served a term as Chairman of the Greater Toronto Cable Television Association (GTCTA), and was a Director of the Ontario Cable Television Association (OCTA) and the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA), as well as a President of the Canadian Cable Television Standards Foundation.
In his community activities, Juris became a long-time Executive Committee member of the National Broadcast Reading Service (voice print).
In 2000, Juris Silkans was inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame.
Juris Silkans died in Los Altos, California, on February 23rd 2014.
Written by Pip Wedge – February, 2014