Blue Ant acquires Saloon

Canadian broadcaster, producer and distributor Blue Ant Media has acquired Toronto-based factual prodco Saloon Media as part of its ongoing expansion in North America.

Michael Kot

The move will see Saloon’s CEO Michael Kot, executive producers Steve Gamester and Paul Kilback, and head of production Betty Orr join Blue Ant’s global production unit.

Blue Ant has already brought NHNZ (New Zealand), Beach House Pictures (Singapore), Antenna Pictures (London), Blue Ant Digital Studios (LA), Look Mom! Productions (Toronto) and Northern Pictures (Sydney) under the unit’s control following a spate of M&A activity in recent years.

The company described the latest purchase as a key step in the expansion of its North American production business, which will see Blue Ant growing its original content business in the Canadian and US markets.

It follows yesterday’s announcement of a series of executive appointments to its global production unit in the US and Canada.

Saloon launched in 2013, and recent credits include the CSA-nominated series Mummies Alive for History (Canada), Smithsonian Channel (US) and Yesterday (UK).

It has also worked on Tornado Hunters for CMT, coproduced See No Evil for Investigation Discovery with UK indie Arrow Media, and made Hunting Nazi Treasure for History (Canada), American Heroes Channel (US) and More4 (UK).

Prior to launching Saloon, Kot was senior VP of factual for Entertainment One, overseeing and executive producing original factual programming for the company’s television group. Kot was also responsible for leading programming, acquisitions and the general operations of BBC Canada.