Factual

Blue Ant Media is expanding its factual offering with seven new and returning originals spanning science, history and wildlife, which will be available for international licensing at MIPCOM 2026. The new titles will be programmed across Blue Ant Media’s broader Pay TV and streaming portfolio, while its distribution arm, Blue Ant Rights, will handle international rights. The slate combines productions from Blue Ant Studios with projects from third-party production partners, reflecting the company’s approach to developing and distributing specialist factual content across platforms and territories.
Four of the new history and science titles are produced in-house by Blue Ant Studios: Engineering From Above Season 2, How to Survive History, Secret Ops: Revealed and Disasters From Above. The natural history lineup includes Big Cats, Nine Lives and Legion of the Shark, both from WildBear Entertainment, as well as the one-off special Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers, produced by Fin & Fur Films.

“These latest greenlights reflect our continued investment in distinctive factual programming from both Blue Ant Studios and independent production partners,” says Craig Junner, EVP & GM, Global Channels & Streaming, Blue Ant Media. “Our integrated channels, rights and streaming model allows content commissioned for both our Canadian networks and global channel brands to move across platforms and territories, extending its reach through our owned services and international licensing.”

The slate opens with Engineering From Above S2 (8x60’), produced by Blue Ant Studios. The series takes viewers above some of the world’s most impressive engineering achievements, using technology and dynamic graphics to explore iconic sites from new perspectives and uncover how and why they were built. The series is produced with the financial participation of the Canadian Media Fund.
Also produced by Blue Ant Studios, How to Survive History (8x60’) explores extraordinary stories of survival through some of history’s most catastrophic events. Each episode brings together multiple disasters around a central theme, from shipwrecks and combat to volcanic eruptions and plane crashes, examining the decisions, circumstances and unexpected turns that enabled some people to survive.
Secret Ops: Revealed (8x60’) delves into the hidden stories behind secret missions from the 20th and 21st centuries. Each episode examines three operations involving shadow wars, arms deals, rogue assassins and drug cartels. Historians and intelligence specialists analyse declassified material in an operations-style briefing room, reconstructing the events and exploring their consequences.

The wildlife slate begins with Big Cats, Nine Lives (3x60’) from WildBear Entertainment. The series follows lions, leopards and tigers through different stages of their lives, from vulnerable cubs to adulthood, conflict and eventual decline. Across Africa, India and Asia, it explores the different survival strategies adopted by these predators as they face the universal challenges of growing, competing and reproducing.
WildBear Entertainment’s Legion of the Shark (3x60’) takes a different approach to natural history, framing the story of sharks through the style of The Lord of the Rings. The series traces five great cataclysms that shaped Earth’s past — ice, poison, fire, shadow and stone — and follows the sharks that survived them and their descendants that continue to inhabit the world’s oceans.
Completing the slate is Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers (1x90’), produced by Fin & Fur Films and narrated by Academy Award-nominated Texan Ethan Hawke. The special travels through the springs, creeks, rivers and bays of Texas, showcasing the state’s wildlife while examining the water challenges facing its growing population. The journey stretches from the Rio Grande to the waters of the Sabine and Neches, encountering otter families, turkeys and Alligator Snapping Turtles along the way.