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.
Example Titles They've Released
Blue Ant Rights' catalog includes some of the most commercially successful Canadian unscripted content of the past decade:
- Blown Away (2019-present, 4 seasons on Netflix) - glassblowing competition format, reached Netflix Top 10 in multiple territories; produced by Marblemedia
- Canada's Drag Race (2020-present, 6 seasons on Crave) - produced by Blue Ant Studios with World of Wonder; Season 6 premiered November 2025
- Drink Masters (2022, Netflix) - cocktail competition format, 10 episodes; produced by Marblemedia
- Race Against the Tide (2020, CBC) - sand sculpture competition, 6 episodes; UK version produced by Tern TV for 2025-26 slate
- Davey and Jonesie's Locker (2024, Hulu/Prime Video) - teen comedy series
- Mysteries from Above (2021-present, 38 episodes on HISTORY Channel) - aerial factual series; spinoff Engineering from Above sold to HISTORY Channel US at MIPCOM 2025
- The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC) - long-running format adaptation
- Amazing Race Canada (CTV) - produced by Insight Productions (acquired 2025)
Deal Structure Reputation
Blue Ant Rights operates primarily on a licensing model rather than traditional theatrical MG-against-revenue-split deals. The company licenses completed factual and documentary content to broadcasters and streamers on a territory-by-territory basis, with deal structures that vary by buyer type:
- Broadcaster licenses: flat-fee licensing per territory, typically for 3-to-5-year windows. Fees range from low four figures for smaller territories to mid five figures for major markets (US, UK, Germany).
- Streamer licensing: output deals or per-title licensing to Netflix, Amazon, and regional streamers. Blown Away and Drink Masters were licensed to Netflix on multi-season output deals.
- Owned-channel placement: content may be placed on Blue Ant's own global channels (Love Nature, HauntTV, True Crime Now) on a cost-recovery basis, generating AVOD and SVOD revenue across 100+ territories.
- Pre-sale commitments: for Canadian productions, Blue Ant Rights provides distribution commitments that serve as financing triggers for CMF and Telefilm applications. These are typically structured as minimum guarantees against Canadian broadcast rights.
At MIPCOM 2025, Blue Ant Rights closed a deal with HISTORY Channel US for Engineering from Above (8 x 60), building on the success of Mysteries from Above (38 x 60). The company also reported strong international traction for Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy (1 x 60, ITN Productions), licensed to broadcasters across 50+ territories.
Typical Acquisition Profile
Blue Ant Rights acquires:
- Genre: factual, documentary, unscripted entertainment, lifestyle, kids, and family programming. Particular strength in true crime, history, and premium documentary.
- Budget tier: mid-budget factual ($200K-$2M per hour) and higher-budget documentary series. The company does not typically acquire micro-budget passion projects unless they have strong broadcast or streaming pre-sale potential.
- Format: both one-off documentaries (1 x 60 or 1 x 90) and series (4-10 x 60 or 6-12 x 30). Formats with adaptation potential (like Race Against the Tide) are particularly attractive.
- Festival premiere status: not a primary acquisition criterion. Blue Ant Rights buys from production companies and at television markets (MIPCOM, MipDoc, Hot Docs Market, Sheffield DocFest, AFM) rather than from film festival competition programs.
- Director track record: established factual producers with prior broadcast credits are preferred. First-time filmmakers with strong subject matter and recognizable contributors may be considered if a Canadian broadcast partner is attached.
- Submissions: the company accepts pitches from independent producers through direct outreach to Diane Rankin (SVP Rights) or the acquisitions team. Representation by a sales agent is not required for factual content, though established production companies with track records are more likely to secure meetings.
Recent Slate / Acquisition Activity
Blue Ant Rights brought 58 new and returning titles to MIPCOM 2025, its largest slate to date. Key 2025-26 acquisitions and greenlights include:
- Taylor (2 x 60, 1 x 90, Sandstone Films) - Taylor Swift docuseries premiering on Channel 4, fall 2025
- Judi Dench: Shakespeare, My Family and Me (1 x 60, Proper Job Films) - acquired for international sales
- Engineering from Above (8 x 60, Blue Ant Studios) - sold to HISTORY Channel US at MIPCOM 2025
- Matthew Perry: A Hollywood Tragedy (1 x 60, ITN Productions) - licensed to 50+ territories
- Death in the Wild (6 x 60, Cream Productions) - true crime series
- The Great Art Fraud (2 x 60 4K, Blue Ant Studios) - art crime documentary
- Cold War Spies (6 x 60, Perpetual Entertainment) - history series
- Buried Evidence (10 x 60, Blue Ant Studios) - archaeological series
- Andy's East Coast Kitchen Crawl (12 x 30 4K, Proper TV) - lifestyle series from newly acquired Proper Television
The 2026-27 original programming slate includes 6 new greenlights and 2 renewals across Blue Ant's Canadian specialty networks, with several titles produced with CMF financial participation.
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.
Watch: Trailers and Interviews
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.
