Montreal-based studios Sphere Media and Zone3, which both operate kids divisions, have announced plans to merge and create a media company with production and distribution capabilities across multiple content genres. 

Sphere Media is a familiar name in the industry. Headed up by content and development VP Andrea Griffith, its kids & family team is behind TVOKids series Project Rube and the upcoming Burps, Butts and Bones. And it recently pitched a cute 2D-animated series about death, Mort and Millie (pictured) to a full crowd and keen broadcasters at Cartoon Forum 2025. 

While Sphere tends to focus on content for preschoolers and six- to nine-year-olds, Zone3’s kids slate skews to older tweens and teens with live-action shows like Basket and The First Years. 

“By joining forces, we are pooling decades of experience, a multitude of perspectives and vibrant creativity to consolidate our position in the audiovisual industry and better meet the challenges of an ever-changing market,” the company said in a LinkedIn post today. 

“…The merger reinforces the fact that Sphere and Zone3 will remain strongly committed to kids’ content,” Judith Beauchemin, Sphere Media’s EVP of operations for the French market and kids and family, told Kidscreen.

A merger of two Canadian studios, and especially two Montreal-based ones, could be seen as a way to fortify both companies against a wave of recent closures in the region. Quebec’s animation industry has been in dire straits over the last year, with roughly half of all animation and VFX jobs in the province disappearing, according to a report issued by the Quebec Film and Television Council last September. ON Animation Studios and Laughing Dragon Studios are just two recent casualties that closed their doors earlier this year amid this crisis.

Updated 11/19/2026 at 9:02 a.m. ET with quote from Sphere Media’s Judith Beauchemin.