The latest pre-BCE takeover CTV shuffle: Wendy Freeman is to replace Robert Hurst as president of CTV News and Current Affairs, effective Jan. 3.

Freeman is a 17-year veteran with CTV and most recently vice-president and executive producer.

She takes the news division’s top job ahead of other pending retirements at CTV by CEO Ivan Fecan and top news anchor Lloyd Robertson, to be replaced eventually by Lisa LaFlamme.

Freeman also takes the news division helm just as BCE gets set to take over the national TV network, likely in mid-2011.

And she’ll also need to figure out a way for CTV News to compete with Facebook and social media, on top of rivals like the CBC and upstart 24/7 news channel Sun TV News.

‘I live and breathe news, so this position is a dream come true,’ Freeman said Wednesday, as her appointment was unveiled.

Before joining CTV News, Freeman worked at New York-based CW11 WPIX Television network and Toronto’s Citytv.

From Playback Daily