Chicken Soup for the Soul Acquires Sonar Assets

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the film and TV assets of Sonar Entertainment.

Sonar has developed, produced, financed and distributed shows such as The Shannara Chronicles (MTV/Netflix), Taboo (BBC/FX), The Son (AMC), Mr. Mercedes (DirecTV), Das Boot (Sky Europe), Hunters (Amazon Prime), Alien Xmas (Netflix) and Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+).

Screen Media will distribute Sonar’s extensive film and TV library after the closing. The library comprises over 1,000 titles, with more than 4,000 hours of programming, ranging from classic shorts of Little Rascals, Laurel & Hardy and Blondie to epic event miniseries such as Lonesome Dove and Dinotopia.

The seller will receive 5 percent of the ownership of a new AVOD network that will be created in part with the Sonar library.

In the first year after closing, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment expects to recognize over $15 million in revenue with contribution of approximately $10 million in EBITDA from the Sonar assets.

“The Sonar Entertainment assets are a perfect fit with our objective of building the industry’s best AVOD offering,” said William J. Rouhana Jr, chief executive officer of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. “This acquisition will not only have immense strategic value, positioning us to launch AVOD networks with a critical mass of proven content that fits our desired audiences, but will also give us ownership of several franchise television series and add proven television executive talent. Finally, we believe the transaction will be extremely efficient for our shareholders, with a structure that provides for the net cost of the assets being fully recovered as we create value for the seller.”