 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| TSX: RAY.A | |
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 2007; 18 years ago (2007) |
| Founder | Eric Boyko |
| Headquarters | 730, rue Wellington Montreal,Quebec H3C 1T4 |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Eric Boyko (president, CEO & founder) |
| Revenue | $ 386.9 million(2025)[1] |
| $ 35.0 million(2025)[2] | |
| Owner | Boyko Investments Corporation[3] |
Number of employees | 1,000+ (2025) |
| Website | stingray |
Stingray Group Inc. (formerlyStingray Digital andStingray Digital Group) is a Canadian music, media and technology company based inMontreal,Quebec, with offices inToronto,Ontario, as well as in theUnited States,Mexico, theUnited Kingdom, theNetherlands,Germany andAustralia. The company was established in 2007 byEric Boyko and owned by Boyko Investements Corporation.[3]
Stingray provides retail and consumer services, including audio and video channels, digital signage, subscription content, karaoke products, and in-car and on-board infotainment content.
Stingray Radio operates over 100 radio stations across Canada. It is Canada's first-largest owner of radio stations
Stingray was founded in May 2007 byEric Boyko andAlexandre Taillefer, in partnership with Telesystem, following the purchase ofkaraoke company Soundchoice for $6 million. This gave them a catalogue of karaoke songs and a karaoke channel, allowing them to create The Karaoke Channel (now known as Stingray Karaoke).[4][5] Later that year, the company acquired cable TV commercial-free music service Galaxie from theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation for $65 million, renaming itStingray Music.[6][7] Taillefer exited the company in 2010.[6] In 2011, Stingray acquiredMusic Choice Europe.[8]
In May 2015, Stingray raised $140 million in itsinitial public offering. The sale gave the firm a market value of $296 million.[4] It began trading on theToronto Stock Exchange on June 3, 2015, under the ticker RAY.A. Novacap sold most of its stake in the company after the IPO.[5]
On May 2, 2018, Stingray announced its intent to acquireNewcap Radio for $506 million, marking the company's expansion into terrestrial radio broadcasting in Canada.[9] The sale was completed on October 26, 2018, with the family of company founderHarold R. Steele becoming Stingray's largest third-party shareholder.[10] In December 2018, the company changed its name to Stingray Group.[11]
Although its services face competition from consumer-targeted streaming offerings such asApple Music andSpotify, the company had continued to emphasize its use of manually-curated playlists for its services (as opposed to algorithmic recommendations), and its focus on international expansion into territories where pay television is experiencing growth, and promoting complementary services such as mobile apps.[12]
In January 2022, Stingray acquiredInStore Audio Network, rebranding the company as Stingray Advertising the following year.[13] In November 2025, Stingray announced that it would acquire the internet radio serviceTuneIn for US$175 million.[14]
Music Choice, which launched in 1991, is owned by Microsoft, Arris, Sony Corp. of America, EMI Music Publishing, Time Warner, Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications. Music Choice is in 72 million American households.[16] The company filed the lawsuit against Stingray Digital in theU.S. District Court for theEastern District of Texas in June 2016 overpatent infringement. The patents in dispute are U.S. Patent Nos. 8,769,602, 9,357,245, 7,320,025 and 9,351,045 pertaining to the on screen formatting of Stingray Digital's channels.[17] Stingray countersued Music Choice on August 29, 2016, calling it a "smear campaign".[18]
From its founding in 2007 through 2015, Stingray Digital acquired 18 companies, at a total cost of $150 million.[19][20] Its first purchase was Soundchoice, followed by Galaxie, from theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation.[20] In 2009, Stingray announced it would be acquiring the majority of assets inMax Trax fromCorus Entertainment.[21] In August 2010, the company purchasedConcert TV, a US video on demand service carrying recorded musical performances.[7] In April 2011, Stingray announced that it was purchasing London-based music streaming companyMusic Choice International, helping Stingray expand into Europe and Africa.[8] In May 2013, Stingray purchased the Canadian accounts ofeMedia Network.[22] In 2014 Stingray acquiredLite TV from the Archibald Media Group,[23] and purchasedMood Media's residential digital music service in Latin America for $16 million.[24] In February 2015, Stingray acquired in-store commercial display company Groupe Viva.[25] In July 2015, Stingray announced it would pay $8 million forNetherlands-based Brava Group, operator of thematic television music channelsBrava NL, Brava HD andDjazz.TV, with 35 million subscribers in 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean, with plans to bring the channels to the US, Canada and Latin America.[5][26]
In 2009, Stingray signed an agreement withGoogle to become a content partner by launching TheKARAOKEChannelYouTube channel.[8][27] In 2015, Stingray invested in AppDirect, which develops online stores for business software applications,[28] and made a deal withAir Canada to be the music provider on its flights. Stingray also has hotel chain partners, to feed Stingray's music into guest rooms.[29]
On June 21, 2016, Stingray announced that it would acquire theMuchMusic spin-off channelsMuchVibe,MuchLoud,MuchRetro, andJuicebox fromBell Media.[30] The group of channels were previously owned byCHUM Limited.
In May 2017, Stingray acquired Israel-based Yokee Music LTD, provider of three social music apps regularly ranked in the music category's top 10 in 100 countries: Yokee, Yokee Guitar, and Yokee Piano.[31]
In January 2018, Stingray acquired the assets of New-York based Qello Concerts, the world's leading over-the-top (OTT) streaming service for full-length, on-demand performances, concert films, and music documentaries — reaching users in more than 160 countries.[32]
In June 2018, in partnership withADISQ and its website PalmarèsADISQ, Stingray launchedPalmarèsADISQ par Stingray, a new music channel devoted to Quebecois andFrench-Canadian music.[33]
In August 2018, Stingray announced that it had made a $120 million takeover bid for its main competitor in the United States,Music Choice.[34] In January 2019, Stingray abandoned the bid, shortly after having reached a deal withAltice USA to replace Music Choice on its cablesystems.[35][36]
Stingray Brava was closed and merged withStingray Classica on March 1, 2019.[37]
In November 2025, Stingray announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire theSan Francisco-headquartered global audio streaming service,TuneIn at a value of up to US$175 million.[38]
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