If Cottage Life Media’s beginnings could be compared to a log cabin, its newest achievement—launching its own TV channel—elevates the company to deluxe-cottage-with-boathouse status.
Now part of Blue Ant Media, which was named Marketing’s Media Player of the Year for 2012, Cottage Life Media started as a magazine in 1988 and has grown into a multiplatform brand that publishes three magazines, runs consumer events biannually and—as of this fall—will also have a TV station.
This is hardly the brand’s first time on the small screen. Cottage Life TV had aired as a show on Life Network and then HGTV before moving to Travel + Escape last spring (T+E is a GlassBox Television channel, which Blue Ant now owns).
The new channel solidifies the 360-degree media opportunity that Al Zikovitz, Cottage Life’s CEO and president, has referenced before when speaking about the media options the company’s various extensions provide for marketers.
Cottage Life has built its foundation on weekend living content. The new HD specialty channel, simply called Cottage Life, will focus on lifestyle content and air new programs around topics including outdoor living, food, entertaining, real estate and DIY.
The upcoming channel will be incorporated into the Spring Cottage Life Show currently taking place in Toronto (April 5 – 7). Visitors were to be given information on the channel and invited to share photos and stories with staff in a video diary for the opportunity to appear on Cottage Life’s website, in the magazine or on the forthcoming station. There were also TV producers from Cottage Life on hand casting for programs.
In an interview with Marketing last April, when Zikovitz first mentioned developing the specialty channel, he spoke of how Cottage Life Media would be able to work with Blue Ant and control the channel “right through to the production, and we can make sure the productions reflect what the Cottage Life brand is all about.”
The CRTC gave approval for the Cottage Life station, a Category B channel, in fall 2011.
Privately held Blue Ant bought Cottage Life at the end of 2012. It had acquired a minority stake in July 2011.
Blue Ant’s other specialty channels are Bite and AUX, as well as commercial-free channels Oasis HD, eqHD, HIFI and radX.
