Blue Ant buys streamer MagellanTV for $12m

Canada’s Blue Ant Media has acquired factual streaming firm MagellanTV for $12m (£9m).

The deal follows Blue Ant’s reverse takeover of Boat Rocker Media earlier this year, after which chief exec Michael MacMillan told Broadcast International he was looking at more M&A activity to “turbocharge” the business.

The acquisition will expand Blue Ant’s existing DTC offering, which already includes brands such as Love Nature and numerous FAST channels.

MagellanTV was founded in 2018 by Nat Geo and PBS execs Greg Diefenbach and Thomas Lucas. It offers an SVoD and AVoD service, as well as FAST channels across genres including history, nature, science, space, and true crime.

Diefenbach will join Blue Ant as executive vice president of streaming, overseeing the company’s direct-to-consumer and subscription video businesses. He reports to Carlyn Staudt, president of global channels and streaming.

Lucas will depart the company following a transition period.

The deal will see Blue Ant make a $6m upfront cash payment, with the remaining $6m payable over a two-year period. The latter will be made up of cash and subordinate voting shares of Blue Ant.

MacMillan said the acquisition would ”increase Blue Ant’s scale and adds audiences and distribution capabilities that are highly complementary to our business.”

He added: “MagellanTV’s business model is primed for optimisation within our global infrastructure, and we’re thrilled to welcome the talented team to Blue Ant.”

MagellanTV’s services are already available in 13 countries across providers including Roku, Amazon, Apple, Samsung, LG, Comcast, Vizio, Pluto TV, and Google.

Blue Ant added that the acquisition would allow it to increase margins by adding more than 1,500 hours of its shows to MagellanTV, reducing reliance on licensed or revenue-shared content.

Operational synergies from consolidating infrastructure and resources are expected, but no figure was given.