BCE Inc.’s Bell Media is branching further into global content distribution with the acquisition of a majority stake in content distributor Sphere Abacus.
Sphere...
Blue Ant Media is promoting three staff members to new ranks.
Jamie Schouela is the production studio’s new chief operating officer, while Carlyn Staudt has become...
Blue Ant Media Inc. is calling on the CRTC to lighten its CanCon spending obligations, blaming its...
Foreign streamers must pay their fair share of contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system, but...
Blue Ant Media and Marblemedia have decided to merge their operations into one firm, the companies said...
Several trade unions representing Canadian media...
The CRTC has adjusted how it considers the use of stock footage for the purposes of counting toward Canadian Content requirements.
In a Thursday decision, the regulator announced it would move the treatment of stock footage costs from the "services" category to the...
OTTAWA–Streaming is the way of the future, a panel told the Canadian...
Several independent broadcasters have written to the CRTC to say the regulator shouldn’t grant a request by TV providers to change a rule forcing cable and IPTV services to hand over viewership...
Quebecor Inc. hasn’t established that it actually owns the set-top box data at the centre of a new...
A trade association for Canadian-based television and content distribution...
CBC/Radio-Canada wants the federal government to grant the CRTC the ability...
The CRTC has dismissed in part a complaint lodged against BCE Inc.’s Bell Fund earlier this year by a...
Blue Ant Media Inc. is acquiring Saloon Media, a Toronto production company “specializing in globally relevant factual television,” it said in a press release Thursday. Saloon Media’s shows include Mummies Alive and...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has named Julie Chang its new vice-president of...
On Monday, the CRTC published a complaint from a group of media production companies including CBC/Radio-Canada outlining how, in their view, the BCE Inc.-supported Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, or Bell Fund, falls short in the evaluation, allocation and governance of...
In a press release on Monday, Blue Ant Media Inc. announced the promotion...
The CRTC has denied an application by Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. (ECGL) to bring a Polish music channel to Canada after Blue Ant Media Inc. and Stingray Digital Group Inc. said it would interfere with their own services. The...
In an emailed statement, Blue Ant Media Inc. has confirmed the resignation of its CEO of television and...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has hired two new executives at its Kids & Global Networks division, the company...
Blue Ant Media Inc. is launching an animation studio, the company said in a press release Thursday.
The division, called “Look Mom!”, will be located in Toronto and led by creative director Joshua Bowen, it said.
It plans to produce “compelling creator-driven animated content for kids (6-11), teens and adults (18-34)” the release said.
“Look Mom! Productions brings Blue Ant Media an incredible opportunity to diversify our content offering with kids and animated programming while producing in Canada, known...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC...
A group of American TV stations seems to be renewing its efforts to put compensation for signals...
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has made two new appointments to its board of directors.
Michael Schmalz...
Sam Sniderman has been named global head of commercial affairs and production at Blue Ant Media Inc.,...
Alex Maldini is the new vice-president of international sales and acquisitions at Blue Ant Media Inc.,...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has acquired Racat Group, with international assets that include production houses and mobile game developers. As part of the deal, announced Wednesday, Blue Ant gets Racat’s New Zealand-based natural...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has appointed Nick Solowski as its new director of international sales and acquisitions. He will be responsible for licensing Blue Ant content in various international markets, including the U.S. Hispanic...
More than 1,700 people representing a variety of tech and telecom companies have signed on to an open letter opposing U.S. President Donald Trump’s weekend executive order blocking entry of...
Blue Ant Media Inc. and BBC will launch the BBC Earth channel in Canada in January, the companies said in a Tuesday press release. The channel, scheduled to begin broadcasting on Jan. 24, will be commercial-free and “will give Canadians exclusive access to BBC Earth’s slate of high-profile programming including Planet Earth II and The Hunt,” the release said. It will replace Blue Ant’s existing radX channel, it added. “We know that the BBC brand and content resonate with Canadians, so we’re looking...
An industry association representing Canadian distributors and exporters of TV and digital content has been formed, with the intention of helping develop content at home and export it abroad. The Canadian Association of...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has sold four reality shows to Discovery Communications Inc., which will be broadcast on Discovery’s channels airing in the United States and Latin America. Blue Ant said in...
BCE Inc. has “unclean hands” in its effort to have the Wholesale Code overturned by the federal Appeal Court while simultaneously applying to have removed certain conditions of...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has sold several original series to international buyers, the company announced Tuesday. In a press release, the content distribution company said four home sales and renovation series will be...
OTTAWA — The results of the sweeping review of Canadian content in a digital age announced by Heritage Canada last week could take 10 years to materialize, University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy deBeer said Thursday during a panel discussion at the New Developments in Communications Law and Policy conference. “I think [Heritage Minister Mélanie] Joly is on the right track when she says everything’s on the table, because you have to take that sort of...
Blue Skye Entertainment, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media Inc. and Smithsonian Networks, announced Monday it has launched a 4K subscription video-on-demand app called Love Nature. It’s available in 32...
While Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. are getting the ball rolling on 4K broadcasting in Canada with a heavy emphasis on sports, others feel food, nature, music videos and outdoor adventure programming are also the kinds of content that would work well in ultra-high definition. Chris Knight, CEO at Ottawa-based Gusto TV, said in a phone...
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said Monday that Jens Richter, CEO of FremantleMedia Ltd.'s international division, will be part of a keynote conversation at this year's Prime Time in Ottawa event. He will be joined on on the morning Friday, Feb. 5, by Raja Khanna, CEO of Blue Ant Media Inc.'s...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Monday it has partnered with Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between CBS Corp.’s Showtime and the Smithsonian Institution, to create Blue Skye Entertainment,...
Blue Ant Media Inc.’s international division announced Friday it has made sales of more than 175 hours of content from its catalogue of factual, factual entertainment, nature and wildlife, lifestyle and documentary series to...
Blue Ant Media Inc.’s international division announced Tuesday in a press release that it has signed a multi-year, exclusive distribution deal with Cream Productions Inc., an international factual content creator based in...
Blue Ant Media Inc. on Wednesday announced several changes to its leadership team, including the appointment of Jamie Schouela to the newly created position of executive vice-president of Canadian networks. Blue Ant said in a...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Thursday that its 4K Love Nature channel content is now available for worldwide distribution. The content company said in a press release that the 4K content will be available on linear and streaming...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Tuesday that its international division will launch new 4K titles in the nature, wildlife and documentary categories at MIPCOM, a global entertainment content conference. Blue Ant said in the press release that along with the new 4K content, it will also release new and returning content in high-definition (HD) quality in the factual entertainment category. “We continue to deliver a larger and more diverse slate of content in factual, lifestyle, reality and documentary series and formats that have global appeal,” Solange Attwood, senior...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has asked the CRTC to require less Canadian content on its Cottage Life specialty channel for the remainder of its contract that expires in three years. Blue Ant said in its application, which appeared on the...
An emerging Canadian provider of over-the-top (OTT) video content hopes that reaching viewers around the world, and particularly those with very specific interests, translates into keys to success in the fast-changing television...
Toronto-based TableRock Media announced on Tuesday plans to launch niche Internet-based video channels for worldwide distribution, starting next year. The company said in a press release that it would create channels dedicated to...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Tuesday sales of more than 100 hours of nature and wildlife content from its factual, lifestyle, reality and documentary series catalogue for distribution in Eastern Europe and other international...
While many broadcasters and TV providers expressed support for the CRTC’s proposed changes to its wholesale code, which governs carriage agreements for TV channels, they took differing positions on whether the code should be mandatory and whether it should ban minimum penetration and revenue guarantees. In March, the CRTC said it would consult on a revised wholesale code of conduct, which would come into effect by September and “clarify the wholesale relationship between cable and satellite companies and broadcasters, and ensure the fair negotiation of terms and conditions for the...
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais will give the keynote address to the Banff World Media Festival on June 7, according to a press release from the organizers of the event. Blais will speak to the...
OTTAWA — The retransmission of U.S. networks in Canada is the equivalent of Aereo, the service ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, Kevin Crull, president of BCE Inc.'s media...
Advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting say a television ad was turned down by Canada’s largest broadcasters, yet at least one company says it has no record of the denial. In the...
Blue Ant Media Inc. said Wednesday it has appointed Kate Blank as director of international sales for the Asia-Pacific Region, German-speaking countries, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In a news release, the company said...
VMedia Inc. said it has secured its first specialty-TV channels for the cloud-based PVR service it makes available to IPTV customers. The company said in a news release Thursday that it has reached a deal to include Blue Ant...
It makes sense that David Cormican is optimistic about the impact new streaming services will have on Canadian producers. He’s halfway through the shoot of a new show called Between. It's a teenager-focused drama about a group of youth quarantined by the government after the outbreak of a mysterious disease. It...
Laura Pearce is the new vice-president of brand strategy and fan engagement at Blue Ant Media Inc. “Her expertise will be a key asset in growing the company’s 10 media brands, including Cottage Life, T+E, Oasis and...
Independent broadcaster Blue Ant Media Inc. will make 200 hours of 4K, or ultra high-definition, “nature and wildlife” content each year, the company said in a press release Wednesday. “Over 150 hours of...
The biggest challenge standing in the way of a pick-and-pay TV system is the current penetration-based rate card regime, Scotia Capital telecom analyst Jeff Fan said in a research note. Penetration-based rate cards (PBRCs), which allow distributors to package specialty channels as they see fit and require them to pay more for a channel if its subscriber penetration rate falls, were instituted in 2012. BCE Inc. suggested the system during a carriage dispute between its Bell Media subsidiary and...
Blue Ant Media Inc., a Toronto-based media group, said Tuesday it has struck a partnership with Omnia Media, which it said is the third-largest largest music-focused network on Google Inc.’s...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has officially launched its international distribution arm, the company said this week. The Toronto-based distributor of television content said in a press release Thursday that its new division is called Blue...
OTTAWA — Industry executives disagreed about the best way to give consumers more choice as they discussed the CRTC’s ongoing review of the television system during a panel discussion at...
Blue Ant Media Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. reached an agreement to offer Shaw cable subscribers free previews of three Blue Ant specialty channels. Shaw cable customers will have free access to HIFI, eqHD and radX until...
Blue Ant Media Inc. appointed Sam Linton as its executive in charge of production, Blue Ant said Wednesday. In a release, Blue Ant said Linton has more than 24 years of experience in production and programming. He previously held the position of vice-president executive producer at Toronto-based RTR Media Inc., the release said. Blue Ant said Linton also held the position of director of factual programming at Shaw Communications Inc., head of factual programming at Cineflix Productions and director of programming at Discovery Canada....
