Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc. (formerly Anthem Media Group) is a Canadian multinational media company based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and founded by

Leonard Asper Leonard Asper (born May 31, 1964) is a Canadian businessperson, entrepreneur and lawyer. He was president and CEO of Canwest from 1999 through its bankruptcy in 2010. He would later establish Anthem Sports & Entertainment (initially Anthem Media G ...

. Anthem is majority-controlled by Asper via his Sygnus Corporation. Fight Holdings, Inc. holds the remaining ownership stake, via the investors Mayhem Capital (59.01%), North American Bond Company (7.19%), Goldfarb Management Services (7.19%), and

Slaight Communications Slaight Communications is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. The company was formed as Slaight Broadcasting in 1971, when owner J. Allan Slaight acquired CFGM in Richmond Hill. Slaight later also acquired CFOX in Montreal and CHOK in Sar ...

(7.19%).

History

Founding

Anthem Media Group was founded in December 2010 by former

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held radio, ...

president

, through his acquisition of a majority stake in

Fight Network Fight Network is a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment. The network broadcasts programming related to combat sports, including mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, and professional wres ...

. On January 10, 2013, Anthem purchased an equity stake in the U.S-based

Pursuit Channel Pursuit Channel is an American television network that airs programming geared to hunting, fishing, shooting and outdoor recreation. It is based in Glenwood, Alabama and was launched on April 23, 2008. Pursuit is available to over 45 million cab ...

. In August 2013, the company would acquire My Combat Channel. In August 2013, Anthem acquired the

fantasy sports A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete ba ...

websites RotoExperts and

SportsGrid Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, and author. He is currently the host of '' On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz, and ''The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets The Law'' on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. cha ...

, as part of efforts to launch a dedicated fantasy sports-oriented channel.Fantasy Sports Network Looks To Become a Reality In March
Multichannel.com 2013-12-03 The following year, FNTSY Sports Network launched in March 2014. In January 2015, Anthem acquired the

daily fantasy sports Daily fantasy sports (DFS) are a subset of fantasy sport games. As with traditional fantasy sports games, players compete against others by building a team of professional athletes from a particular league or competition while remaining under ...

website LuDawgs.com, and relaunched the site as DailyRoto. Anthem Media Group was renamed to Anthem Sports & Entertainment in May 2015. In August 2016, Anthem announced its intent to acquire the Canadian specialty channel

GameTV GameTV is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel. Owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it primarily broadcasts competition-based programming, including game shows and reality com ...

, pending

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

approval.

TNA investment and acquisition

In October 2016, Anthem invested in the

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

promotion

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

(TNA). Fight Network was its Canadian broadcast partner, and Anthem would loan the company money throughout 2016. On January 4, 2017, Anthem acquired a majority stake in TNA, forming the subsidiary Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions; the promotion would then rebrand as Impact Wrestling, after its flagship weekly program ''Impact!''. Impact founder

Jeff Jarrett Jeffrey Leonard Jarrett (born July 14, 1967) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he both wrestles and serves as Director of Business Development. He is also ...

rejoined the promotion as chief creative director and, during tapings for the April 20, 2017 episode of ''Impact'', it was announced that Impact Wrestling would merge with Jarrett's own

Global Force Wrestling Global Force Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by Jeff Jarrett, the co-founder and former President of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and his wife Karen Jarrett. It was owned and operated via its parent ...

(GFW) promotion under the "GFW" name. Anthem later announced its intent to formally acquire GFW's assets, but by October 23, 2017, Anthem had cut its ties with Jarrett and Global Force. In October 2017, Anthem launched the

Global Wrestling Network Global Wrestling Network (GWN) was a digital streaming service and mobile app owned by Impact Wrestling (now Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It primarily featured content from the Impact video libr ...

, a

streaming service Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

featuring archive content from Impact as well as other independent promotions. On June 26, 2018, it was announced that Peter Einstein would become the new

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

of Anthem. On August 14, 2018, Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Anthem in the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (in case citations, M.D. Tenn.) is the federal trial court for most of Middle Tennessee. Based at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Nashville ...

for copyright infringement over the rights to GFW content, as Jarrett owned all Global Force Wrestling properties since its creation in 2014. A

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...

was declared after a 2020 trial but Jarrett and Anthem settled the case in January 2021.

International expansion

On September 9, 2019, Anthem announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the U.S. cable networks

AXS TV AXS TV () is an American cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musi ...

and

HDNet Movies HDNet Movies is an American digital cable and satellite television network launched by Mark Cuban in January 2003 as a spin-off of HDNet (now AXS TV). It is currently majority-owned by Canadian-based Anthem Sports & Entertainment through HDNet LLC ...

, with existing stakeholders

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

and

Anschutz Entertainment Group Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports ...

maintaining equity stakes. On April 13, 2021, Anthem acquired the women's

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

promotion

Invicta Fighting Championships Invicta Fighting Championships, also known as Invicta FC, is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion dedicated to women's mixed martial arts that was founded in 2012 by Janet Martin and Shannon Knapp. The promotion is current ...

. On November 16, 2021, Anthem acquired Cleveland-based film distributor

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an American film distribution company owned by Shout! Studios. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles in 2006, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2019. It focuses on the distribu ...

from

Red Arrow Studios ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media and digital company based in Unterföhring near Munich. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Venture ...

, the content production and distribution arm of German company

ProSiebenSat.1 Media ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (officially abbreviated as P7S1, formerly ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG) is a German mass media and digital company based in Unterföhring near Munich. It operates in three segments: Entertainment, Dating and Commerce & Venture ...

, for US$73 million in a cash-and-stock deal. The company stated that it planned to use its library across its linear television properties, as well as future

free ad-supported streaming television Free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) is a category of streaming television services which offer traditional linear television programming ("live TV") and studio-produced movies without a paid subscription, funded exclusively by a ...

(FAST) businesses. In April 2025, Anthem sold Gravitas Ventures to

Shout! Studios Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

, with Gravitas and Shout! continuing to operate as separate brands. In June 2022, Anthem announced that it would launch AXS TV Now and Fight Network channels on

Xumo Xumo, LLC ( ) is an American internet television and consumer electronics company. It is a joint venture of Charter Communications and Comcast that operates the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) and advertising video on demand (AVOD ...

. On September 25, 2024, Anthem announced its intent to acquire the Canadian premium television service

Hollywood Suite Hollywood Suite is a group of four Canadian specialty channels, each either majority-owned or wholly owned by Hollywood Suite Inc., a privately held broadcasting company based in Toronto, Ontario, founded by Jay Switzer, Jeff Sackman, Michael M ...

pending CRTC approval.

Assets

Television

Canada

Game+ A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

USA

(majority ownership stake; with

and

as equity partners) *

Other assets

TNA+ TNA+ is a professional wrestling video streaming service that launched on May 1, 2019. It is owned and operated by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Origi ...

Former assets

* Edge Sport HD (with

Trans World International IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, fashion, events and media company headquartered in New York City. The company manages athletes and fashion celebrities; owns, operates and commercially represents ...

, 80.5%) * Fight Network (UK) *

(minority ownership stake) *

(joint venture with

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarters in Irving, Texas, Midtown Manhattan, and Chicago. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 television station ...

) *

References

External links

*
CRTC chart of Anthem Media Groups' Canadian assets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthem Sports and Entertainment Corp. Canadian companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in Ontario Companies based in Toronto Mass media companies established in 2010 Television broadcasting companies of Canada Television production companies of Canada