Canadian children’s entertainment company WildBrain has announced plans to sell majority ownership in its linear television channels to Island of Misfits (IoM). The deal, which will be worth more than $40 million over the next four years, sees the Caillou-owner’s stake in the Family suite decline to 33%. The remaining 66% will be owned by IoM, a Halifax-based animation company run by WildBrain’s (then known as DHX Media) former CEO Dana Landry.
WildBrain will use the sale to help pay down company debt. It will also no longer require the company to restrict itself to the Canadian ownership guidelines set out out by the federal government’s Broadcast Act, which limits foreign ownership in businesses that operate broadcasters. WildBrain expects to remove its variable voting share structure currently applicable to non-Canadian shareholders.
During the transitionary period, there are no planned changes to management, the workforce or location of operations for the linear business. WildBrain Television, the division that operates Family, Family Jr., WildBrain TV and the French-language Telemagino, is based in Toronto.
Josh Scherba, President and CEO of WildBrain, said: “As we continue to strategically focus on driving high-growth areas for key global franchises and partnerships, this transaction is a critical step forward in simplifying our business. Financially, we believe it strikes a balance between economic participation for WildBrain while benefiting our leverage profile over the long term. We’re confident that, with IoM, the Channels will pass to a strong independent Canadian studio. As a partner with IoM, we look forward to working with them to uphold the prominent legacy of these Channels with a dedication to delivering best-in-class content for Canadian families.”
Dana Landry, President and CEO of IoM Media Ventures Inc., said: “We’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with WildBrain, and we look forward to integrating these Channels and resources into our ecosystem after close of the transaction to accelerate growth as we look to invest boldly in content and expand our footprint in the kids’ and family entertainment space.”
WildBrain (then, DHX) acquired the linear channels in a $170 million deal with Astral Media in 2013. The sale came as a government requirement placed on Bell Media to approve their purchase of Astral. Family Channel originally launched on September 1, 1988. Family Jr. debuted in 2007, with its French-equivalent Telemagino (both initially known Playhouse Disney, later Disney Junior) following in 2010. WildBrain TV (originally, Disney XD, then Family Chrgd) came to existence in 2011. The channels had largely been powered by content produced by Disney, but lost that programming in 2015 to Corus Entertainment. That required the Family channels pivot to material owned by WildBrain (both library and original), European acquisitions and co-productions, a partnership with DreamWorks/NBC Universal, and productions from independent Canadian media companies. The main Family channel has also relied on U.S. broadcast network programming.
IoM was founded in 2018 through the sale of DHX’s Halifax animation studio to Landry, who had resigned from DHX earlier that year. The company also maintains offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. In the years since their launch, IoM has mainly worked on WildBrain productions like Fireman Sam, Slugterra: Ascension and the CG-animated Caillou reboot.
The sale of the linear business to IoM is subject to approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), but is expected to close within the next 3-6 months.
