Michael I. M. MacMillan (born 1957) is the CEO of Blue Ant Media, a privately held Canadian media company that creates and distributes engaging content in categories that span lifestyle, travel, music and entertainment. The company owns specialty channels

Cottage Life ''Cottage Life'' is a Canadian magazine focusing on cottage lifestyle content. First published in the summer of 1988, the publication features how-to articles, buying guides, and tips on aspects of cottage living and lifestyle. Formally published ...

Travel + Escape T+E is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by Blue Ant Media. The channel primarily broadcasts entertainment programming, including docu-series and dramas related to the supernatural and paranormal. History On ...

, Makeful, and A.Side TV along with four premium, commercial-free channels Smithsonian, Love Nature, HIFI HD, BBC Earth and their companion websites. Its digital publishing division produces content for web, mobile and monthly tablet magazines for AUX and Travel + Escape. Cottage Life Media is a division of Blue Ant Media, publishers of Cottage Life and Cottage Life West and producer of various consumer shows. Blue Ant Media was named Marketing Magazine’s 2012 Media Player of the Year. MacMillan is Co-founder and Chairman of Samara, non-partisan charitable organization that works to improve political participation in Canada. Samara was formed out of a belief in the importance of public service and public leadership. It is named after a

samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...

, the winged seed that falls from the maple tree. Through its projects, it hopes to strengthen the health of Canada's democracy and encourage others to do the same. He is also the co-founder of the Open Roof Festival. Additionally, Macmillan is the co-founder and co-owner of Closson Chase, a vineyard and winery in

Prince Edward County, Ontario Prince Edward County (PEC) is a municipality in southern Ontario, Canada. Its coastline on Lake Ontario’s northeastern shore is known for Sandbanks Provincial Park, sand beaches, and limestone cliffs. The Regent Theatre, a restored Edwardian ...

. Closson Chase produces

pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French words for ''pine'' and ''black.'' The word ''pine ...

and

chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

wines and was one of the pioneers in establishing Prince Edward County as a new location for wine making in Canada.

Career

MacMillan was previously the Executive Chairman of

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...

. Macmillan co-founded Atlantis Films in 1978. In its early years, Atlantis was primarily a film and television production house, winning an Oscar in 1984 for its short film '' Boys and Girls'' and an Emmy in 1992 for ''Lost in the Barrens''. Atlantis was also nominated for an Oscar for "The Painted Door". In 1993, Atlantis became a broadcaster with the launch of its first network,

Life Network Slice is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language discretionary service channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts reality shows targeting young adult women, typically dealing in subjects such as fashion and l ...

. In 1998, Atlantis acquired Alliance Communications and became Alliance Atlantis. Under Michael's leadership, the company operated 13 Canadian television networks including

HGTV Canada HGTV is a Canadian English-language Category A cable and satellite specialty channel owned as a joint venture between Corus Entertainment (which serves as managing partner and owns 80.24% majority control through licensee HGTV Canada, Inc.) and ...

, Showcase Television, History Television and

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

. The company also distributed and produced movies and television programs including the hit series ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

''. In 2007, Macmillan retired from Alliance Atlantis when he sold Alliance Atlantis to

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. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

and

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...

. In 2011, MacMillan returned to broadcasting by launching upstart media company Blue Ant Media.

Personal life

MacMilllan lives in Toronto and volunteers his time with various organizations, including Community Food Centres Canada, Civix and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

References

External links

Blue Ant Media official websiteSamara official website Open Roof Festival official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmillan, Michael 1957 births Canadian film executives Living people People from Scarborough, Toronto Upper Canada College alumni