Business

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has received approval from the Conservative cabinet to sell digital specialty channel Bold for more than $4 million.

Blue Ant Media, a privately held media company based in Toronto, will take ownership of the assets after being given the final OK last week, according to a posting on the government's website.

Bold carries a broad range of different programing that it describes as "focusing on the lives of rural Canadians."

Some of the series that air on its channel include repeats of "Party Down," a comedy about a catering company, and "Skins," a dramatic series following a group of British teenagers dealing with a culture of sex, drugs, school and friends.

Blue Ant has said the Bold channel has about 2.6 million subscribers across the country.

The CBC has been looking for ways to cut costs across its operations after the latest federal budget showed the broadcaster would face a $115-million reduction in annual funds, or about 10 per cent less in payments each year.

Last April, the CBC told staff it would cut 650 jobs under a three-year plan and apply for regulatory approval for radio advertising on two of its national music channels.

The broadcaster didn't tie the sale of Bold to the reduction in funding from the government when it was first announced last summer.