Khanna to exit Blue Ant in restructure

Raja Khanna, CEO for TV and digital at Canada’s Blue Ant Media, will step down at the end of the year after his role was made redundant.

Raja Khanna

Khanna arrived at Blue Ant following the company’s merger with GlassBox Television, where he had been CEO, in 2011. His next move is not yet known but he posted on Twitter that it was now “time to disrupt. Again.”

His remit at Blue Ant included overseeing programming, TV and digital, along with the company’s SVoD services, its sales operation and production division.

Khanna’s departure comes as the company looks to hand more responsibility to the various divisions in its rapidly expanding operation.

In May, it acquired David Haslingden’s Racat Group, in a deal that included kids’ broadcaster ZooMoo Networks, Australia’s Northern Pictures and NHNZ of New Zealand.

Also included were Beach House Pictures of Singapore and mobile game developer and publisher Runaway Play in New Zealand.

Blue Ant then launched a global networks division to support its international expansion and appointed Ward Platt to the newly created role of CEO of global networks and kids.

The Toronto-based firm then opened an animation studio, with two action-comedy series already on its slate.

The company has also rejigged its senior management team recently, hiring Beatrice Lee and Carlyn Staudt to work across its Asian operations and Love Nature brand respectively.

The hires came after C21 revealed that Vanessa Case, Blue Ant’s executive VP of content, was leaving the company.

Following Khanna’s exit, Michael MacMillan, Blue Ant’s CEO and co-founder, will oversee strategy and operations, with execs including Platt and Solange Attwood, senior VP of Blue Ant International, reporting to him.

In a company-wide memo, Blue Ant said that in the “more decentralised structure,” Khanna’s “role of CEO, TV and digital is a layer of executive oversight which is no longer necessary.”

“Raja has been on the growth journey at GlassBox and Blue Ant for more than 10 years and he is looking forward to his next challenge. We thank him for his many contributions to the creation and growth at Blue Ant Media which reflect his entrepreneurial spirit.”