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Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (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.
HistoryThe 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.)
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 Canada, Discovery Health Channel, BBC Canada, BBC Kids and more.
Alliance Atlantis and Vivafilm home video releases are 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 include CanWest Global, Corus Entertainment, Astral Media, and Rogers Communications. [2] The rights to CSI are 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 Goldman Sachs, with Canwest expected to take control of the broadcasting portion of the company, and Goldman Sachs to keep (with another Canadian partner) or spin off the Entertainment and Production and Motion Picture LP divisions. This would include the stake in the lucrative CSI franchise; CBS Paramount would gain Alliance Atlantis' international distribution rights to the programs. AssetsBroadcastingSpecialty Channels
EntertainmentThis 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 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.
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