Bell Media takes minority stake in Montreal production group Sphere Media

Sphere Media comedy Sort Of for CBC and Max

Montreal-headquartered production company Sphere Media, which produces titles including CBC and Max half-hour comedy Sort Of and CTV medical drama Transplant, has sold an undisclosed minority stake to Canadian private broadcasting giant Bell Media.

Financial terms of the deal, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, have not been disclosed.

Sphere Media produces titles in both English and French and, through several M&A deals of its own, has grown to become one of the country’s largest production groups.

Led by CEO Bruno Dubé, the company acquired both Sienna Films (Cardinal, The Porter) and unscripted and kids prodco BGM in 2020 following the collapse of former owner Kew Media Group. It has also acquired film prodco GO Films in 2018, Oasis Animation in 2019 and animation studio Sardine Productions in 2022.

In April 2022, the company restructured its operations and unified its various production entities under the Sphere Media brand.

On the scripted side, Sphere Media is also producing Tall Pines, an eight-part series created by Canadian comedian, actor and screenwriter Mae Martin for Netflix Canada. It also produced the critically acclaimed CBC drama series The Porter, which was cancelled after one season after the project’s US commissioner, BET+, pulled out.

A fourth season of Transplant, produced for Bell Media’s flagship broadcast network CTV, was commissioned recently.

Sphere Media also produces the French-language whodunnit No Return for Bell Media’s linear network Noovoo and streamer Crave. This week, the series was picked up by Canal+ in France.

The investment would appear to make a lot of sense for Bell Media and gives it access to a pipeline of English- and French-language projects that can feed its broadcasting operations in both languages.

Canadian broadcasters acquiring production companies is a relatively rare occurrence within the local market. Other notable deals include Corus Entertainment’s acquisition of Toronto-based Aircraft Pictures last year.