Quarto Communications, publisher of magazines including Cottage Life and Explore and producer of consumer events such as DIY Weekend, has entered a partnership with Blue Ant Media to launch two specialty TV channels for the brands.

The proposed new channels include one for the Cottage Life brand and the other, still unnamed, would include content in line with Quarto’s other publishing brands, including Explore, Outdoor Canada and Canadian Home Workshop.

Al Zikovitz, president and CEO of Quatro, tells MiC he anticipates a fall 2012 launch for the new properties.

Zikovitz says he first met with Michael MacMillan, head of Toronto-based Blue Ant Media, a year ago about his interests in launching the channels.

The partnership sees Blue Ant Media taking a 15% stake of Quarto’s shares, with an option to increase its ownership to 24.5% within the next year.

The deal gives the company the ability to reach consumers on multiple touchpoints while retaining control of the brands, says Zikovitz.

“We have worked in television before, with the Cottage Life show on HGTV, and I have always wanted to get back into it,” he says. “With the addition of TV, we can go to a major advertiser and sell the market that we serve, i.e. the cottage market, and…offer [them] multimedia reach.”

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