Blue Ant Media announced Wednesday from Prime Time it has greenlit five new originals and four series renewals spanning mystery, paranormal, nature, wildlife and lifestyle genres.
Overseen by Sam Linton, Blue Ant’s vice president of production and development for global media, the new programming will roll out on the company’s Canadian specialty TV channels T+E and Cottage Life in 2025, followed by its global free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels HauntTV, Homeful, Love Pets and Declassified at a later date, a press release says. Blue Ant Studios is overseeing global pre-sales and licensing opportunities for all titles in the slate.
“We’re proud to collaborate with our Canadian production partners to create impactful documentaries and enduring franchises that captivate and resonate with a broad, diverse audience,” Craig Junner, senior vice president of programming and content strategy for global media at Blue Ant Media, said in the press release.
“Blue Ant’s unique structure enables us to invest in the production of homegrown content and share it with the world, debuting it on our Canadian specialty TV channels and later expanding its reach through a second window on our global free streaming platforms.”
Among the new greenlights is Ghost Lands (working title), “a chilling, hour-long documentary that presents Indigenous ghost stories rooted in various Indigenous cultures and mythology,” the release says. Created, written and produced by Winnipeg-based Métis producer Jessica Landry, the Ghost Lands project was developed and greenlit as a result of Blue Ant’s RFP initiative in partnership with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the Reelworld Film Festival and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. The RFP process called for pitches focused on paranormal series from indigenous and racialized producers for Blue Ant’s linear channel T+E and FAST channel HauntTV, according to the press release.
Other greenlights include: You Can’t Deny It, a new six-part documentary series produced by Blue Ant Studios that explores the power of corroboration; Vet Detective, a six-episode series from producer Big Time Decent, which spotlights Vancouver-based veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman’s pioneering work in veterinary medicine; Engineering from Above, an eight-episode spinoff of the Blue Ant Studios-produced Mysteries from Above franchise exploring awe-inspiring engineering marvels around the world; and Birthplace of Hallowe’en (working title), a one-hour documentary produced by Small Army Entertainment and filmed in Ireland with British Columbia paranormal investigators Kelly Ireland, Corine Carey and Leanne Sallenback, known for T+E’s History’s Most Haunted and Haunted Gold Rush.
The four series renewals include a fourth season of Mysteries from Above (eight episodes x 60 minutes, produced by Blue Ant Studios), as well as second seasons of My Haunted Hometown (8 x 60’, Blue Ant Studios), Holmes on Homes: Building a Legacy (8 x 60’, The Holmes Group) and Wild Rose Vets (13 x 30’, Blue Ant Media/APTN co-production, Wapanatahk Media in partnership with Great Pacific Media).
Photo of Ghost Lands (working title) courtesy of Blue Ant Media
