Bell Media Acquires Majority Stake In Sphere Abacus: Distribution Move Comes Alongside ‘Northern Lights’ Programming Push
deadline.comBell Media has bought a majority stake in distributor Sphere Abacus. Revealing the deal to Deadline, Bell Media President, Sean Cohan, said it is part of a wider content and distribution push and an initiative to create more internationally successful content with a Canadian flavor.
UK-based distributor Sphere Abacus is run by MD Jonathan Ford and sells shows including Leaving Neverland, Catch You Later, and Travels with Agatha with Sir David Suchet internationally.
Bell Media will fold its programming into Sphere Abacus library in the wake of the deal, meaning that catalog swells to about 5,500 hours.
The back story to today’s deal is complicated. Canadian production outfit Sphere Media, run by Bruno Dubé, completed a C$24.6M deal for distributor Abacus last year.
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