Distribution360 (Blue Ant Rights)

Overview

Distribution360 (D360) is a Toronto-based international rights management company founded in 2010, headquartered at 74 Fraser Avenue, Toronto, M6K 3E1. Originally the distribution arm of marblemedia, Distribution360 was acquired by Blue Ant Media in August 2023 as part of a merger of the two companies' production and distribution operations. The combined entity operates under Blue Ant Studios, with Mark Bishop and Matthew Hornburg serving as co-Presidents. Blue Ant Media is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BAMI).

The distribution arm, now operating as Blue Ant Rights, represents over 9,000 hours of acclaimed content from Blue Ant Studios and third-party producers. The company sells premium factual, documentary, unscripted entertainment, lifestyle, kids, family, and preschool programming to broadcasters and streaming platforms worldwide. Offices are located in Toronto, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Ottawa, Halifax, and Vancouver.

Content Catalog and Slate

Blue Ant Rights brought 58 new and returning titles to MIPCOM 2025, its largest slate to date. The slate is headlined by Taylor, a docuseries from Sandstone Films premiering on Channel 4, exploring the career of Taylor Swift. Other MIPCOM 2025 titles include:

• Death in the Wild (6 x 60, Cream Productions)
• The Psychic Swindle (1 x 60, Blue Ant Studios)
• The Great Art Fraud (2 x 60 4K, Blue Ant Studios)
• The Jury: Murder Trial Season 2 (4 x 60, Screendog Productions)
• Cold War Spies (6 x 60, Perpetual Entertainment)
• Buried Evidence (10 x 60, Blue Ant Studios)
• History Unsolved: The Investigation Files (10 x 60)

The 2026-27 original programming slate includes 6 new greenlights and 2 renewals across Blue Ant's Canadian specialty networks (Cottage Life, T+E, BBC Earth, Smithsonian Channel). Titles include Space: The Ultimate Countdown, Super Humans, World's Most Secret Places Season 2, Aussie Snake Wranglers: Deadly Pursuit Season 3, and Mysteries from Above Seasons 5-6.

Award-winning titles in the catalog include Blown Away (Netflix Top 10), Canada's Drag Race (Crave), Race Against the Tide (CBC), Drink Masters (Netflix), Davey and Jonesie's Locker (Hulu/Prime Video), Top Chef Canada, The Great Canadian Baking Show, and Amazing Race Canada.

Distribution Model

Blue Ant Rights licenses content to broadcasters and streaming platforms on a territory-by-territory basis. The company operates across multiple genres with particular strength in factual and documentary programming. Recent deals include:

• France: M6 licensed There's Something You Should Know (6x30 dating show); Planete+ licensed Red Arrows: Inside the Bubble (1x60); ARTE acquired Into the Arctic: Awakening (1x60)
• Germany: Welt24 licensed Sex, Fame & Murder (true crime, 1x60)
• Eastern Europe: Kontent acquired Vedettes a Poils (10x30) for Russia, Baltics, and CIS; First HDTV licensed Tomorrow's World Today, Britain's Ultimate Pilots, and WW2 Treasure Hunters
• Multi-territory: Alchimie acquired 5 titles across OTT platforms

Diane Rankin serves as SVP Rights and Executive Producer, overseeing international sales activity. The company attends MIPCOM, MipDoc, Hot Docs Market, Sheffield DocFest, and AFM.

Corporate Structure

Distribution360 is now integrated into Blue Ant Studios, which encompasses:

• Blue Ant Studios Productions
• Insight Productions (acquired 2025)
• Proper Television (acquired 2025)
• Jam Filled Entertainment
• Atomic Cartoons

Blue Ant Media also operates a Global Channels and Streaming business with brands including Love Nature, NatureTime, HauntTV, True Crime Now, Homeful, Makeful, Love Pets, Shockwave, and MagellanTV, distributed in over 100 countries across PayTV and streaming platforms (AVOD, SVOD, free streaming, YouTube). This gives Blue Ant Rights a dual distribution path: licensing to third-party broadcasters and streamers, and placing content on Blue Ant's own owned-and-operated channels.

The company went public on the TSX in 2025 and acquired three production companies that year, expanding its content pipeline and rights library.

What Filmmakers Should Know

Blue Ant Rights acquires completed factual and documentary content from independent producers, in addition to distributing Blue Ant Studios' in-house productions. The company is a realistic distribution target for Canadian and international documentary filmmakers whose work has strong subject matter, recognizable contributors, and potential for both broadcast and streaming licensing.

For Canadian documentary filmmakers, Blue Ant Rights is one of the primary international sales options alongside Mongrel Media, EyeSteelFilm, and the Hot Docs Distribution program. The company's integration into Blue Ant Media's global channel portfolio means a film licensed to Blue Ant Rights may premiere on a Canadian specialty network (Cottage Life, Smithsonian Channel, BBC Earth Canada) and then roll out across Blue Ant's global streaming channels in over 100 territories, in addition to being licensed to third-party broadcasters.

Pre-sales to Blue Ant Rights for Canadian broadcast and theatrical rights are a recognized financing mechanism for Canadian documentary productions. The company has established relationships with the Canada Media Fund (CMF), Telefilm Canada, and provincial funding bodies that accept distribution commitments as part of the financing plan. Several 2026-27 slate titles are produced with financial participation from the CMF.

Contact: sales@distribution360.com, phone 416-646-2711.

See Also

For how Canadian documentary financing structures combine public funding with distribution pre-sales, see Documentary Financing: Building Your Stack. To model the revenue from a combination of Canadian broadcast licensing alongside international territory sales, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator. For comparison with other Canadian distributors, see Mongrel Media and EyeSteelFilm in this directory.