Alliance Atlantis

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Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.
Type Private
Founded Toronto, Ontario (1998)
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario
Key people Anthony F. Griffiths - Lead Director
Michael I.M. MacMillan - Chairman
Phyllis Yaffe - CEO
Industry Media
Products Specialty Channels, Movie Distribution
Revenue $1.02 billion CAD
Employees 850 (2003)
Website www.allianceatlantis.com

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (formerly traded as TSX:AAC) is a Toronto-based media company, which now operates primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also has offices in Montreal (where many of the videos are packaged and distributed), Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.

Alliance Atlantis was acquired by CanWest Global Communications and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs in 2007. Portions of the company have been placed in trust pending regulatory approval of the acquisition.

Contents

The current company was formed in 1998 from the merger of two former production companies, Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications. The merger was a bit unusual in that the head of Atlantis, Michael MacMillan, became CEO of the new firm even though Atlantis was the smaller partner in the transaction[citation needed]; Alliance's CEO, Robert Lantos, was specifically interested in moving back into a production role[citation needed]. (The merger was also parodied on Made in Canada, when that show's Pyramid Productions merged with a company called Prodigy.)

At the time of the merger, both companies had launched various Canadian specialty television services; in 1995, Alliance launched Showcase Television while Atlantis launched Life Network (which has since been renamed "Slice"); in fall 1997 the companies launched History Television and HGTV Canada respectively. Atlantis had also been a major investor in YTV in its first few years before selling out to what is now Corus Entertainment.

Alliance Atlantis has been known to fund projects regarded as too controversial by US companies, such as Bowling for Columbine; it was the Canadian distributor of Fahrenheit 9/11.[1] In 2003, the company purchased Salter Street Films, which produced a number of television shows for both the Canadian and international market. However, soon after the acquisition, Salter Street was disbanded and its active projects were transferred to Alliance Atlantis' own television production/development division.

Citing lower profits, it has all but closed its production arm, aside from the highly-profitable CSI: Crime Scene Investigation family of series, which it co-produces with CBS Paramount Television. It briefly maintained Salter Street's long-running This Hour Has 22 Minutes before transferring the show to the Halifax Film Company, made up of former Salter Street employees.

Its primary business is now through its ownership of a number of Canadian specialty services, which, in addition to those listed above, now include Food Network, Discovery Health, BBC Canada, BBC Kids and more.

In 2007, Alliance Atlantis was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine, the only broadcaster to be included on the list.[1]

Motion Picture Distribution LP, formerly traded through the Movie Distribution Income Fund (TSX:FLM.UN), was responsible for distribution of American- and Canadian-made films both in Canada and the United Kingdom, under the Alliance Atlantis (English), Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm (French) and Odeon Films banners. It was spun off from Alliance Atlantis itself in the early 2000s.

In Canada it distributed the libraries of The Weinstein Company, Focus Features, Miramax Films and New Line Cinema among others. Prior to its acquisition by Lions Gate Entertainment, it distributed the Artisan Entertainment library as well. Dimension Films, Miramax and New Line Cinema's libraries were distributed by Alliance prior to the merger between Alliance and Atlantis.

In partnership with Cineplex Entertainment, this unit also operated Alliance Atlantis Cinemas, owner of two Toronto-area theatres. During the MPD era, all materials relating to Alliance Atlantis-distributed films contained a disclaimer stating that Alliance Atlantis was "an indirect limited partner of Motion Picture Distribution LP, not a general partner". However, in fact, the company controlled the general partner of the partnership, and hence effectively controlled the distribution unit itself.

Alliance Atlantis and Vivafilm home video releases were, and continue to be, distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

On December 20, 2006, the company announced it was "exploring strategic alternatives", effectively putting the company up for sale. Expected bidders included CanWest Global, Corus Entertainment, Astral Media, and Rogers Communications. [2] The rights to CSI were expected to be sold separately, with CBS as the most likely bidder. [3] A similar announcement was made previously regarding the Motion Picture Distribution unit, which is also expected to be sold separately.

On January 10, 2007, it was announced that Alliance Atlantis would be acquired by a consortium of CanWest Global and GS Capital Partners, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs. The company was broken up as follows:

  • The Entertainment and Production division, consisting mainly of AAC's 50% stake in the lucrative CSI franchise, was acquired by GS Capital. CBS Paramount gained Alliance Atlantis' international distribution rights to the programs.
  • Motion Picture Distribution, including its publicly-traded income fund, was acquired by Canadian-based EdgeStone Capital Partners and GS Capital (exact ownership unknown, but believed to be structured to give EdgeStone control). It is not clear whether this ownership structure has yet been approved by Canadian Heritage. Since the breakup, the company's films have been distributed under the "Alliance" banner for English and "Alliance Vivafilm" for French releases.
  • The Broadcasting division is to be jointly acquired by CanWest and GS Capital, with the former owning a majority voting interest and the latter a majority of the equity. Due to the complexity of the deal, exact ownership figures are not yet known. Initially, CanWest will run its own channels and the AAC channels as a single operating unit. The CanWest and AAC broadcasting divisions will eventually be merged, potentially also giving GS a sizable interest in Global and other CanWest channels. This part of the deal is currently pending Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approval; presently these assets are held in trust by James B. MacDonald.

Specialty Channels

Websites

NOTE: Channels marked in BOLD lettering indicates Alliance Atlantis is the managing partner.

This division of Alliance Atlantis develops and distributes various television programmes to Canadian, American and International broadcasters. The programs range from children's shows, series, lifestyle and documentaries. They include:

Children's Programs

Drama Programs

Comedy Programs

Other Programs[citation needed]

Alliance Atlantis also produces some French-language programming -- both original shows and dubbed versions of its English output -- under the Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm banner.

  1. ^ Reasons for Selection, 2007 Canada's Top 100 Employers.

v • d • e
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.
Television Assets BBC Canada • BBC Kids • Discovery Health • Fine Living • Food Network • HGTV • Historia • History Television • IFC • National Geographic Channel • One: The Body, Mind & Spirit Channel • Séries+ • SCREAM • Showcase • Showcase Action • Showcase Diva • Slice

Coordinates: 43°40′11.47″N, 79°23′7.92″W

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Atlantis"
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