Blue Ant Media

Blue Ant Media is a Canadian broadcasting and media company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company was founded by Michael MacMillan and formed in 2011 following the acquisition of Glassbox Television. Its name was chosen in reference to William Gibson's informal "Blue Ant" trilogy.[1]

Blue Ant Media Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryMedia, Broadcasting, Television production
Founded2011
FoundersMichael MacMillan
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario,
Canada
Area served
Worldwide
WebsiteBlue Ant Media

The company owns both domestic and international television channels, studios, and publishing assets.

History

On December 22, 2011, Blue Ant Media announced that Torstar had acquired a minority stake in the company.[2]

On December 21, 2011, Blue Ant Media announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase specialty broadcaster High Fidelity HDTV.[3] 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.[4][5]

On August 17, 2012, Blue Ant Media announced that it would be purchasing the specialty channel Bold from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for an undisclosed amount, conditional on government approval.[6]

After initially purchasing a 15% minority stake in Canadian publishing company Quarto Communications in the summer of 2011,[7] in December 2012, Blue Ant Media purchased the remaining shares in the company, which had been renamed Cottage Life Media.[8]

In April 2014, the company purchased a minority stake in the digital media company and multi-channel network Omnia Media.[9]

In November 2014, the company bought a majority stake in Choice TV, marking their first international expansion.[10][11][12]

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.

In May 2017, Blue Ant Media bought the Asia-Pacific broadcaster Racat Group, including factual producer NHNZ, Singapore-based studio Beach House Pictures, Sydney-based Northern Pictures, developer Runaway Play, and a majority stake in ZooMoo. The purchase was considered to be complementary to the Blue Ant's factual and nature-oriented programming.[13][14][15]

In February 2018, Omnia Media was renamed Blue Ant Digital Studios, coinciding with the launch of several new original series on Facebook Watch, and an accompanying expansion beyond video gaming content.[16] In October 2018, Blue Ant acquired the Toronto-based Saloon Media.[17]

Assets

Former
  • Antenna Pictures (London)
  • Choice TV (New Zealand)
  • HGTV (New Zealand)

References
  1. Watch out for the Blue Ant
  2. Torstar acquires 25 per cent stake in Blue Ant Media
  3. Blue Ant Media Enters Agreement to Acquire High Fidelity HDTV CNW press release 2011-12-21
  4. Blue Ant Completes Acquisition of High Fidelity HDTV Archived 2012-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, Broadcaster Magazine, August 1, 2012.
  5. Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-419 CRTC 2012-08-01
  6. Blue Ant to buy Bold Realscreen.com 2012-08-17
  7. Quarto, Blue Ant Media team up on specialty channel venture
  8. Blue Ant Media buys Cottage Life Media, terms not immediately available Canadian Business 2012-12-05
  9. "Canada's Blue Ant Media Invests in YouTube MCN Omnia Media". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  10. "Blue Ant takes majority stake in NZ's Choice TV". Real Screen. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  11. "Blue Ant Acquires Controlling Interest in New Zealand Broadcaster". Broadcaster Magazine. 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  12. http://blueantmedia.ca/portfolio/choice-tv-2/
  13. "How Blue Ant will bolster its kids biz with Racat buy". KidScreen. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  14. "Blue Ant debuts 200 hours of kids content". KidScreen. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  15. "Blue Ant Media acquires Racat Group in effort to expand globally". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  16. Chmielewski, Dawn C.; Chmielewski, Dawn C. (2018-02-20). "Omnia Media's Production Arm Renamed Blue Ant Digital As New Facebook Watch Series Debut". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  17. "Blue Ant acquires Saloon Media". Realscreen. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
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