Blue Ant Media and Marblemedia have agreed upon a merger agreement of the two companies’ production and distribution operations into one unified studio and rights business.“We are excited to join forces with Michael MacMillan, a trailblazer in our industry known for scaling industry-leading companies. Building this new merged production and distribution studio will bring together our talented teams who have a shared vision and belief that original content and rich IP are the greatest differentiator,” said Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg, co-CEOs, marblemedia.
Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg will oversee the newly combined business, serving as co-Presidents and reporting into Michael MacMillan, CEO and co-founder, Blue Ant Media. With hubs in Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Miami and London, the merger of these operations sees Blue Ant Media acquiring marblemedia and international sales operation Distribution360, effective today. Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg will operate from Blue Ant Media’s Toronto office. “The appetite for premium content remains strong in the global market, and we can better serve this demand with high-quality content and by working with best-in-class collaborators," Bishop and Hornburg said.
The combined businesses, which includes production companies marblemedia, Blue Ant Studios, Saloon Media and Look Mom! Productions, in addition to distributors Distribution360 and Blue Ant International, provide a wide range of intellectual properties across all genres including scripted comedy and drama, unscripted entertainment, formats, factual and premium docs, live action kids/family and animation. The studio is positioned to create bigger creative projects at scale with renowned IP, innovative originals and the world’s best-in-class talent, while expanding its reach with new partnerships with streamers and broadcasters in North America and around the world.
“Marblemedia has long been regarded as one of the most respected production and distribution companies in the unscripted and scripted space, having created huge hits for the biggest streamers and broadcasters in the industry," Michael MacMillan, CEO and co-founder, Blue Ant Media said. "With Mark and Matt leading our combined studios and rights business, Blue Ant Media is well positioned in its growth as an international media company with production, rights and an established global channels division all operating at scale."