Industry Media Website Blue Ant Media Founded 2011 Type of business Private | Founders Michael MacMillan Founder Michael MacMillan Headquarters Toronto | |
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Key people Raja Khanna, (CEO, Television & Digital Groups)Robb Chase (COO) Products Broadcasting, Television Production, Publishing Owner Torstar (25%)Providence Equity PartnersFairfax Financial Similar Groupe Serdy, Hollywood Suite, Likely Story | ||
Blue ant media brand sizzle
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.
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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 had acquired a 25% stake in the company.
On December 21, 2011, Blue Ant Media announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase specialty broadcaster High Fidelity HDTV. 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.
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. Blue Ant Media was named Marketing Magazine's 2012 Media Player of the Year.
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, in December 2012, Blue Ant Media purchased the remaining shares in the company bringing its ownership to 100%.
In April 2014, the company purchased a minority stake in the digital media company Omnia Media.
In November 2014, the company bought a majority stake in Choice TV, marking the group's first international expansion.
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]
Broadcast
Blue Ant Media owns and operates eight specialty channels: