Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation is a broadcasting and production company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Sygnus Corporation and Fight Holdings Inc. It is a global media platform that owns and operates niche specialty TV channels and related digital media assets that cater to a male demographic. All content is available on linear, digital, and mobile platforms. Anthem also has offices and studios in New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Sygnus is completely owned by Leonard Asper, former President and CEO of Canwest, who serves as Anthem's president and CEO. Fight Holdings Inc. is controlled by Edwin Nordholm, who serves as Anthem's executive Vice President, and Loudon Owen.
Anthem Media Group Inc. was founded in December 2010 by Canadian broadcast stalwart Leonard Asper, through his acquisition of a majority stake in Fight Network. On January 10, 2013, Anthem purchased a significant equity stake in Pursuit Channel, the largest outdoor television network in the USA. In August 2013, the company acquired the American combat sports channel My Combat Channel. In August 2013, Anthem also announced the acquisition of RotoExperts and SportsGrid to bolster its online presence and provide content for the launch of FNTSY Sports Network. On March 1, 2014, Anthem launched FNTSY Sports Network, the first-ever television channel in the world devoted to the fantasy sports industry. In January 2015, Anthem announced the acquisition of LuDawgs.com and revamped the fantasy gaming website as DailyRoto.com.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment
Anthem Media Group was renamed to Anthem Sports & Entertainment in May 2015. In October 2016, Anthem invested in the professional wrestling promotionTNA. Fight Network was its Canadian media partner, and Anthem was loaning TNA money during 2016. On January 4, 2017, Anthem acquired a majority stake in TNA, forming the subsidiary Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions; the TNA brand was replaced full-time by Impact Wrestling, in reference to the title of the promotion's flagship TV series. After Jeff Jarrett rejoined the promotion as chief creative director, Impact was re-branded as GFW to "merge" it with Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling and Anthem announced its intent to acquire its assets, but by October 23, 2017, Anthem had cut its ties with Jarret and the Impact brand had been reinstated. Also in October 2017, Anthem launched a new subscription streaming service known as the Global Wrestling Network, which features archive content from TNA/Impact as well as other independent promotions. On June 26 it was announced that Peter Einstein would become the new Chief Operating Officer of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. On August 14, 2018 Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Anthem in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee for copyright infringement over the GFW rights, as Jarrett owned all Global Force Wrestling properties since its creation in 2014. On September 9, 2019, Anthem announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the U.S. cable networks AXS TV and HDNet Movies, with existing stakeholders Mark Cuban and Anschutz Entertainment Group maintaining equity stakes.
