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Blue Ant Media

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Blue Ant Media Inc.
Company typePrivate company
IndustryMedia
Founded2011
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Key people
Michael MacMillan, Co-Founder and CEO, Raja Khanna, CEO, Television & Digital Groups, Robb Chase, COO
ProductsBroadcasting, Television Production, Publishing
OwnerTorstar (25%)
Providence Equity Partners
Fairfax Financial
WebsiteBlue Ant Media

Blue Ant Media Inc. is a privately held Canadian media company that creates and distributes lifestyle, travel, music and entertainment content for television, print, and online media. Its digital publishing division produces content for web, mobile and monthly tablet magazines.

History

The company was formed in 2011 by Michael MacMillan, former Chairman of Alliance Atlantis, with the acquisition of indie broadcaster Glassbox Television. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

On December 22, 2011, Blue Ant Media announced that Torstar Corporation had acquired a 25% stake in the company.[1]

On December 21, 2011, Blue Ant Media announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase specialty broadcaster High Fidelity HDTV.[2] It initially purchased 29.9% of the company with the remaining 70.1% acquired when the deal was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The acquisition was completed on August 1, 2012.[3][4]

On August 17, 2012, Blue Ant Media announced that it would be purchasing bold, a specialty channel airing a mix of drama; comedy; arts and culture; and sports programming; from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for an undisclosed amount, conditional on regulatory approval.[5] Blue Ant Media was named Marketing Magazine's 2012 Media Player of the Year.[citation needed]

After initially purchasing a minority stake (15%) in Canadian publishing company Cottage Life Media Inc. (then known as Quarto Communications) in the summer of 2011,[6] in December 2012, Blue Ant Media purchased the remaining shares in the company bringing its ownership to 100%.[7]

In April 2014, the company purchased a minority stake in the digital media company Omnia Media.[8]

In November 2014, the company bought a majority stake in Choice TV, marking the group's first international expansion.[9][10][11]

In December, 2015, Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks teamed to launch Blue Skye Entertainment, a new UK-based company exclusively focused on 4K content.[1]

Assets

Broadcast

Blue Ant Media owns and operates eight specialty channels:[12][13]

Digital media

Distribution

  • Blue Ant International

Print

References

  1. ^ Torstar acquires 25 per cent stake in Blue Ant Media
  2. ^ Blue Ant Media Enters Agreement to Acquire High Fidelity HDTV CNW press release 2011-12-21
  3. ^ Blue Ant Completes Acquisition of High Fidelity HDTV, Broadcaster Magazine, August 1, 2012.
  4. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-419 CRTC 2012-08-01
  5. ^ Blue Ant to buy Bold Realscreen.com 2012-08-17
  6. ^ Quarto, Blue Ant Media team up on specialty channel venture
  7. ^ Blue Ant Media buys Cottage Life Media, terms not immediately available Canadian Business 2012-12-05
  8. ^ Canada's Blue Ant Media Invests in YouTube MCN Omnia Media Hollywood Reporter 2014-04-01
  9. ^ "Blue Ant takes majority stake in NZ's Choice TV". Real Screen. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  10. ^ "Blue Ant Acquires Controlling Interest in New Zealand Broadcaster". Broadcaster Magazine. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  11. ^ http://blueantmedia.ca/portfolio/choice-tv-2/
  12. ^ Broadcast veteran MacMillan buys GlassBox Television stake
  13. ^ Blue Ant Media Enters Agreement to Acquire High Fidelity HDTV CNW press release 2011-12-21
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