By Etan Vlessing
A CONSTANT REFRAIN from Canadian broadcasters is they do not have the heft to battle U.S.-originating streaming services, and so need protectionist relief from the feds to survive a post-cable, border-straddling future.
But Blue Ant Media has positioned itself in an increasingly global digital world by developing a three-legged stool strategy of content production, distribution and operating channels that goes well beyond anything a conventional Canadian broadcaster can muster.
The key is playing defense and offense at the same time, as Blue Ant aggressively expands into an unfolding digital universe yet remains nimble and agile enough to compete in a world of emerging ad-supported and subscription video on demand services.
Blue Ant is doing this by commissioning original content that engages consumers well beyond the Canadian market, whether for its own channels or by partnering with international distributors.
An example is Love Nature, a wildlife and nature offering that has evolved from an upstart Canadian cable channel to becoming a nexus point for Blue Ant that connects original content production to international distribution and more recently allows going direct to consumers in the U.S. market and elsewhere.
“It was a type of content that travelled very well, had lots of appeal and was evergreen in cases,” Jamie Schouela, president, global channels and media at Blue Ant, told Cartt.ca about Love Nature, which is available today in 130 countries worldwide.
“As we think about the opportunity, we’re thinking about what we’re doing with Love Nature in some of these other genres by creating the content here with Canadian producers and exporting it around the world to feed our FAST channels in a bigger way,” – Jamie Schouela, president, global channels and media at Blue Ant
Love Nature is distributed through traditional cable and satellite platforms, or in the case of the U.S. market free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels that compete directly with cable and streaming TV services.
In addition, Love Nature content is sold in the UK, Germany and Italy to Sky via a content output deal that has the Blue Ant brand marketed as Sky Nature, or licensed globally via Blue Ant International.
“We think about (Love Nature) on a market-by-market basis and that’s been an evolving strategy for us,” Schouela said.
Blue Ant Media CEO Michael MacMillan argues Love Nature, which was rebranded from the former Oasis HD channel in 2015, couldn’t just continue renting international programming and focusing on the Canadian market.
Instead, Blue Ant had to commission and pay for original natural history programming from the best international production companies and cinematographers to keep feeding new content to consumers beyond Canada that stand ever ready to cancel a subscription at the click of a button.
“Our sourcing of great programming needed to come from great producers wherever they were, and we had to pay for it if we were going to own the rights,” MacMillan recalled.
Just as Love Nature was designed for global expansion, Schouela suggests the future of Blue Ant’s channel brands will similarly include FAST platforms that take full advantage of content produced out of Canada.
Here he points to T+E – a paranormal specialty channel that evolved into the HauntTV FAST channel, which was rolled out internationally.
“As we think about the opportunity, we’re thinking about what we’re doing with Love Nature in some of these other genres by creating the content here with Canadian producers and exporting it around the world to feed our FAST channels in a bigger way,” Schouela said.
“In general, our goal is not just to be a program producer or manufacturer. It’s also to be the owner or co-owner of the program and enjoy the right to distribute it internationally” – Blue Ant Media CEO Michael MacMillan
Elsewhere, in the U.S., Blue Ant’s true crime channel Total Crime and home renovation channel Homeful have joined Love Nature on LG Channels, a free streaming service available on LG smart TVs.
In Canada, LG Channels now includes Homeful, HauntTV, and Total Crime’s sister channel, CrimeTime.
Blue Ant’s expanding array of FAST channels are free for consumers to access on other platforms like VIZIO WatchFree+, The Roku Channel, Xumo, Samsung TV Plus and PrendeTV.
Of course, being able to own the content you create is easier said than done, and has always been a challenge for Canadian indies that often work as fees-for-services providers that hand content rights to international partners.
For Blue Ant, where possible, efforts on the content production and distribution front aim at allowing the company to retain intellectual property rights to content they develop and produce, the better to control and monetize distribution.
“In general, our goal is not just to be a program producer or manufacturer. It’s also to be the owner or co-owner of the program and enjoy the right to distribute it internationally,” MacMillan argued.
“We’re adding to our larger goal of building content. But that’s always been the goal. That’s always been the challenge. The factors of what made it hard or extra hard or occasionally not so hard varied over the decades, but it’s always been the same tussle,” he added.
