The new company will develop, produce and distribute its original content across all platforms and ancillary brand extensions, including publishing and merchandising, with the heads of the two firms becoming co-CEOs of Knight Magee Industries.
"Creating Knight Magee Industries puts us in a perfect position to take advantage of a new branding attitude to the business of content creation," said Chris Knight, who founded Knight Enterprises in 1991, in a statement.
The Ottawa company has produced more than 450 hours of programming that has been aired in 96 countries, including shows such as Junk Brothers, The Great Canadian Food Show and Road Grill. As well, Mr. Knight has written seven cookbooks based on some of the shows, and the company also licenses original music from its various series.
His co-CEO, Al Magee, has served as executive producer for the hit CBC television show Little Mosque on the Prairie, and has more than 400 episodes in 10 series and over 400 hours of scripted comedy to his credit. Mr. Magee's company has also produced shows such as Love by Design and The Smart Woman Survival Guide, and the firm's programming is seen in more than 70 countries.
Mr. Knight added: "The decision to use Industries in our new company's name speaks directly to our strategy of designing content brands that move seamlessly across multiple revenue streams, platforms and consumer businesses."
The new company's first plans are to produce a TV movie based on well-known Mountie Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, in conjunction with Earth to Sky Pictures.
Offices and staff in Ottawa and Toronto will be retained following the deal, the company noted.
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