Stingray Group Inc. (formerly Stingray Digital and Stingray Digital Group) is a publicly traded

Canadian media The media of Canada is diverse and highly regionalized. News media, both print and digital and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a handful of major media corporations. The largest of these corporations is the country’s nati ...

and entertainment company based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, with offices in the

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Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The company broadcasts music and video content on platforms including cable and satellite television,

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...

, Internet, mobile devices and game consoles, and develops customized audio and digital services for retailers, hotels and other commercial clients.Nicolas Van Praet
"Entrepreneur behind Galaxie music is betting on TV's survival,"
''Financial Post'', January 24, 2014.Doug Alexander
"Stingray Digital Raises C$140 Million in IPO,"
''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', May 26, 2015."Stingray Digital to raise $140M in IPO,"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, May 27, 2015. Via its broadcasting subsidiary Stingray Radio, it is Canada's second-largest owner of radio stations behind Bell Media Radio.

History

Stingray was founded in May 2007 by Eric Boyko and

Alexandre Taillefer Alexandre Taillefer is a Canadian entrepreneur from Quebec. He is the founder and managing partner of XPND Capital, a private equity firm. Commercial activities In 1993, at age 21, Tallifer founded Intellia, an e-commerce service provider later ...

, in partnership with Telesystem, following the purchase of

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

company Soundchoice for $6 million. This gave them a catalogue of karaoke songs and a karaoke channel, allowing them to create The Karaoke Channel (now known as Stingray Karaoke).Doug Alexander
"Stingray Digital Raises C$140 Million in IPO,"
''

'', May 26, 2015.Damon van der Linde
"Stingray Digital Group Inc plays to a bigger crowd with first acquisition since IPO,"
''Financial Post'', July 24, 2015. Later that year, the company acquired cable TV commercial-free music service Galaxie from the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

for $65 million, renaming it

Stingray Music Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous Streaming media, streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital. While a song i ...

.Paul Delean
"Stingray Digital in a growth groove,"
''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', July 24, 2014.Grant Robertson
"Stingray goes live with deal for Concert TV,"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', August 4, 2010. Taillefer exited the company in 2010. In 2011, Stingray acquired Music Choice Europe.Grant Robertson
"Stingray Digital to buy London's Music Choice International,"
''The Globe and Mail'', April 4, 2011. In May 2015, Stingray raised $140 million in its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. The sale gave the firm a market value of $296 million. It began trading on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

on June 3, 2015, under the ticker RAY. Novacap sold most of its stake in the company after the IPO. On May 2, 2018, Stingray announced its intent to acquire

Newcap Radio Stingray Radio (formerly Newcap Radio) is a Canadian radio broadcasting conglomerate owned by Stingray Group. It owns and operates 101 radio stations in Canada—making it the second-largest radio conglomerate in Canada behind Bell Media. It also ...

for $506 million, marking the company's expansion into terrestrial radio broadcasting in Canada. The sale was completed on October 26, 2018, with the family of company founder Harold R. Steele becoming Stingray's largest third-party shareholder. In December 2018, the company changed its name to Stingray Group. Although its services face competition from consumer-targeted streaming offerings such as

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, the company had continued to emphasize its use of manually-curated playlists for its services (as opposed to algorithmic recommendations), and its focus on international expansion into territories where pay television is experiencing growth, and promoting complementary services such as mobile apps.

Properties

Business services

* Stingray Business, a provider of in-store music licensed for commercial use, audio-visual systems and TV screens * Chatter Research

Karaoke services

* Stingray Karaoke, a licensed karaoke supplier and an interactive television and Internet service * Yokee Karaoke * Kid's Karaoke * The Voice Karaoke * Sing Karaoke by Stingray

Mobile apps

* Stingray Karaoke * Kid's Karaoke * Singing Machine * Stingray Music *

Qello Qello Holdings (also known as Qello) is an American-based entertainment company founded in 2010, in New York, by Brian Lisi, Bob Frank, and Richard Johnson. Qello is the parent company of digital streaming service Qello Concerts, and over-the-t ...

Concerts by Stingray * Stingray Classica * Yokee karaoke * Yokee Guitar * Yokee Piano * Piano Academy * The Piano Keyboard * Stingray Music for Businesses

TV Channels – concerts and shows

* Stingray iConcerts, an on-demand service broadcasting live music performances * Stingray Classica * Stingray Djazz *

Concerts by Stingray

TV Channels – 4K UHD

* Stingray Naturescape (formerly Stingray Ambiance), a television channel showing relaxing scenery accompanied by soothing music * Stingray Now 4K * Stingray Hits! 4K * Stingray Festival 4K

TV Channels – music video

* Stingray Country * Stingray Loud *

Stingray Juicebox Stingray Juicebox is a Canadian music specialty channel owned by Stingray Group. It is a commercial-free channel that broadcasts music and music videos aimed towards children and teens. The channel was first established in 2001 by Craig Media a ...

* Stingray Retro * Stingray Vibe * Stingray Hits! * Stingray Now 4K * Stingray Hits! 4K * Stingray CMusic *

PalmarèsADISQ par Stingray PalmarèsADISQ par Stingray is a Canadian French language Category B high definition television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distribut ...

Original content

* Stingray Pause Play * Evolution of a Song * Behind the Vinyl * Songbook

Radio and broadcast stations

* Stingray Radio, a group of terrestrial radio and television stations in Canada, formerly operating as Newcap Radio and Hector Broadcasting.

Competitors

Music Choice Music Choice (abbreviated as MC) is an American television music service that digitally broadcasts audio-based music channels and video-related content to cable television providers in the United States. Music Choice reaches 65 million househol ...

, which launched in 1991, is owned by Microsoft, Arris, Sony Corp. of America, EMI Music Publishing, Time Warner, Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications. Music Choice is in 72 million American households. The company filed the lawsuit against Stingray Digital in the U.S. District Court for the

Eastern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (in case citations, E.D. Tex.) is a federal court in the Fifth Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed t ...

in June 2016 over

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

infringement. The patents in dispute are U.S. Patent Nos. 8,769,602, 9,357,245, 7,320,025 and 9,351,045 pertaining to the on screen formatting of Stingray Digital's channels. Stingray countersued Music Choice on August 29, 2016 calling it a "smear campaign". Canadian businessman Evan Kosiner applied for and currently holds (as of October 2015) the only other favorable broadcast license to compete with Stingray within

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Acquisitions and partnerships

From its founding in 2007 through 2015, Stingray Digital acquired 18 companies, at a total cost of $150 million.Bertrand Marotte
"Stingray ups ante in mobile music sphere with new version of its app,"
''The Globe and Mail'', July 6, 2015."Stingray Digital said to seek about $120M in IPO,"
''Montreal Gazette'', April 24, 2015. Its first purchase was Soundchoice, followed by Galaxie, from the

. In 2009, Stingray announced it would be acquiring the majority of assets in

Max Trax Max Trax was a Canadian pay television audio service that broadcast continuous streaming music on multiple channel feeds. The service was owned by Stingray Digital. Originally known as Digital Music Express in 1997, the channel later closed in 2 ...

from

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

. In August 2010, the company purchased Concert TV, a US video on demand service carrying recorded musical performances. In April 2011, Stingray announced that it was purchasing London-based music streaming company Music Choice International, helping Stingray expand into Europe and Africa. In May 2013, Stingray purchased the Canadian accounts of eMedia Network. In 2014 Stingray acquired

Lite TV Stingray Lite TV is a non-stop music television channel that brings mainly (soft) pop music videos from the 80s, 90s and today. 24/7. 2Connect Media BV launched the channel as Lite TV on 17 December 2007. In June 2014 the Stingray Group acquired ...

from the Archibald Media Group, and purchased

Mood Media Mood Media Corporation is an international in-store provider of music, digital signage, hold music, on-hold messaging, scent, integrated audio/video, and interactive mobile marketing products. It was founded in 2004, and is based in Austin, T ...

's residential digital music service in Latin America for $16 million.Nicolas Van Praet
"Entrepreneur behind Galaxie music is betting on TV's survival,"
''Financial Post'', January 24, 2014. In February 2015, Stingray acquired in-store commercial display company Groupe Viva. In July 2015, Stingray announced it would pay $8 million for

-based Brava Group, operator of thematic television music channels Brava NL, Brava HD and Djazz.TV, with 35 million subscribers in 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean, with plans to bring the channels to the US, Canada and Latin America. In 2009, Stingray signed an agreement with

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

to become a content partner by launching TheKARAOKEChannel

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. In 2015, Stingray invested in App Direct, which develops online stores for business software applications, and made a deal with

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...

to be the music provider on its flights. Stingray also has hotel chain partners, to feed Stingray's music into guest rooms.David Friend
"Montreal's Stingray Digital wades into music streaming waters,"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', July 6, 2015. On June 21, 2016, Stingray announced that it would acquire the

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

spin-off channels MuchVibe, MuchLoud,

MuchRetro Stingray Retro is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by the Stingray Group. The channel broadcasts music videos mainly from the 1970s to the early 2010s, with some music videos from the 1960s being played occasional ...

, and Juicebox from

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

. The group of channels were previously owned by

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

. In May 2017, Stingray acquired Israel-based Yokee Music LTD, provider of three social music apps regularly ranked in the music category's top 10 in 100 countries: Yokee, Yokee Guitar, and Yokee Piano. In January 2018, Stingray acquired the assets of New-York based Qello Concerts, the world’s leading over-the-top (OTT) streaming service for full-length, on-demand performances, concert films, and music documentaries — reaching users in more than 160 countries. In June 2018, in partnership with

ADISQ ADISQ (french: Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video; eng, Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries, link=yes) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support the indepen ...

and its website PalmarèsADISQ, Stingray launched

, a new music channel devoted to Quebecois and

French-Canadian music French Canadian music is music derived from that brought by the early French settlers to what is now Quebec and other areas throughout Canada, or any music performed by the French Canadian people. Since the arrival of French music in Canada, t ...

. In August 2018, Stingray announced that it had made a $120 million takeover bid for its main competitor in the United States,

. In January 2019, Stingray abandoned the bid, shortly after having reached a deal with

Altice USA Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American cable television provider with headquarters in New York City. It delivers pay television, Internet access, telephone services, and original television content to approximately 4.9 mill ...

to replace Music Choice on its cablesystems. Stingray Brava was closed and merged with Stingray Classica on March 1, 2019.

References

External links

Stingray Radio Stations

Official website

Stingray Music website

Stingray Business website
{{Stingray Group Canadian brands Canadian companies established in 2007 Radio broadcasting companies of Canada Television broadcasting companies of Canada Companies based in Montreal Mass media companies established in 2007 2007 establishments in Quebec Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange