Blue Ant Media’s Global Networks division to manage ZooMoo, Love Nature 4K, RTL CBS Entertainment and RTL CBS Extreme
Ward Platt, CEO, Global Networks & Kids, Blue Ant Media will oversee the strategic direction, distribution, programming and all other operations of the division.
Singapore (September 7, 2017) – Blue Ant Media, an international producer, distributor and channel operator announced at the Content Asia Summit today that it has launched a Global Networks division to support the company’s international expansion efforts. As CEO, Global Networks & Kids, Ward Platt will be responsible for leading and growing ZooMoo, a joint venture with AT&T; Love Nature 4K, a joint venture with Smithsonian Networks; and recently acquired RTL CBS Entertainment and RTL CBS Extreme, effective immediately.
ZooMoo and Love Nature 4K produce and own all rights to all owned content through working with Blue Ant Media’s in house production companies and leading third party production partners. This allows for these brands to be easily distributed on all types of platforms including, but not limited to, pay-TV, SVOD, AVOD, FTA and OTT.
The management team from the recently acquired RTL CBS Asia business will oversee the Global Networks business in Asia under Platt and small Global Networks teams have been established in EMEA, and Latin America to do the same.
Platt has joined Blue Ant Media’s Corporate Management Team and reports to Raja Khanna, CEO, TV & Digital, Blue Ant Media. Previous leadership roles include COO positions at National Geographic Partners and Fox International Channels, and CEO of National Geographic Channels International from 2013-2015. Platt will appear on Content Asia Summit’s closing keynote panel today and will represent Blue Ant Media at MIPCOM 2017.
“Ward brings a wealth of experience, industry knowledge and leadership to support the expansion of our suite of channels across linear and streaming platforms all over the world,” said Raja Khanna, CEO, Television & Digital, Blue Ant Media.
“I am excited to be joining the Blue Ant Media team as CEO for Global Networks & Kids. We have strong brands that are rapidly growing in popularity around the world thanks to the great content our sister divisions are developing including content coming from NHNZ, Northern Pictures, Beach House Pictures and other third party production partners,” said Ward Platt, CEO, Global Networks & Kids, Blue Ant Media. “We now have moderate scale to our business, good momentum and strong teams on the ground in Asia EMEA and Latin America, who are focused on creating rewarding partnerships with distribution platforms across the globe.”
ZooMoo Networks is an interactive, children’s nature broadcaster with television channels available in over 20 territories including Mexico, Latin America, Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Maldives, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. ZooMoo Networks is a joint venture with DirectTV Latin America, an AT&T company, which holds a 30% stake in the company. The business’ television programming is comprised of over 500 hours of original content, combining spectacular wildlife footage with puppetry, animations and narration to create a unique viewing and learning experience for preschool viewers, aged 3-6. ZooMoo’s revolutionary second screen app provides multi-platform, interactive play for kids via iOS and Android devices.
Love Nature 4K, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media and Smithsonian Networks, is home to the largest library of 4K wildlife and nature content in the world and has an international SVOD service available in 60+ countries in addition to its linear channel business.
Singapore-based RTL CBS Entertainment and RTL CBS Extreme are distributed across 19 territories in Asia. RTL CBS Entertainment is home to top drama and reality series, as well as late night talk shows and the most prestigious U.S. award show telecasts. RTL CBS Extreme is the destination for action-packed content with a combination of popular series, extreme sports, magic and adventure-reality content. The purchase of this business brings additional scale to Blue Ant Media’s existing presence in Asia which includes Beach House Pictures, one of Asia’s largest independent production companies and ZooMoo Networks. The media company’s global natural history brand, Love Nature, also airs in Singapore as a linear HD television service via StarHub.
Blue Ant Media is a privately held, international content producer, distributor and channel operator. From our production houses around the world, we create content for multiple genres including factual, factual entertainment, short-form digital series and kids programming. Our distribution business, Blue Ant International, offers a catalogue of 3,000+ hours of content, including the largest 4K natural history offering on the market. Blue Ant Media’s international channel business offers a portfolio of media brands such as Love Nature (International), ZooMoo Networks (International), Smithsonian Channel Canada, BBC Earth (Canada) and HGTV (New Zealand). Blue Ant Media is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in Los Angeles, Singapore, Auckland, Dunedin, London, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei.
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