 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| TSX: AAC TSX: AAC.B Nasdaq: AACB | |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded | September 27, 1998; 26 years ago (1998-09-27) |
| Founder | Michael MacMillan |
| Defunct | June 23, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-06-23) (operations) |
| Fate | Split up:
|
| Successors |
|
| Headquarters | 121Bloor Street East,, |
| Subsidiaries | Alliance Cinemas |
| Website | allianceatlantis.com (archived) |
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known asAlliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simplyAlliance orAtlantis) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as aspecialty service operator inCanada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices inHalifax,Los Angeles,London,Dublin,Madrid,Barcelona,Shannon, andSydney.
Alliance Atlantis was the result of a merger of two companies:Atlantis Communications, founded in 1978 byMichael MacMillan, Janice L. Platt and Seaton S. MacLean, andAlliance Communications, founded in 1984 by Stephen Roth,Denis Héroux,John Kemeny,Robert Lantos, Andras Hamori and Susan Cavan as Alliance Entertainment. Alliance Communications and Atlantis Communications merged to form Alliance Atlantis in 1998 which was a member of the North American Broadcasting Association (NABA).
The company ceased to exist in 2007 as the broadcasting division was acquired byCanwest Global Communications and an affiliate ofGoldman Sachs that year. The motion picture division was then spun off and operated independently asAlliance Films, headquartered inMontreal (subsequently sold toEntertainment One and later,Lionsgate), and the international television distribution division was sold toEcho Bridge Entertainment.
All of the former Alliance Atlantis specialty networks, except for the now-defunctBBC Kids, are now owned byCorus Entertainment.[1] The films division was later acquired byEntertainment One group and folded into eOne on January 9, 2013. Most of the assets of eOne, which included Alliance Atlantis' films division and television library, were later acquired by Lionsgate on December 27, 2023.
The Alliance name survived under theAlliance Cinemas banner until January 1, 2021; the theaters under the chain are now owned byCineplex Entertainment.
Alliance Atlantis was formed in 1998 from the merger of two former production companies,Alliance Communications (founded in 1984) andAtlantis Communications (founded in 1978).[2] As President and Board Director of the subsequent combined Alliance Atlantis, Lewis Rose was responsible for leading the teams which arranged the merger financing of $545 million and which achieved in excess of $20 million in savings and synergies from the combination of the two companies in the year following the merger. (The merger was also parodied onMade in Canada, when that show's Pyramid Productions merged with a company called Prodigy.) After the merger, the company laid off 15% of their staff (much of them from pre-merger Aliiance), and closed the former Atlantis sales office in Amsterdam.[3] As part of the merger deal,Robert Lantos, founder of Alliance, signed a deal for film and TV production with Alliance Atlantis through his own firm, Serendipity Point Films.[4][5]
At the time of the merger, both companies had launched various Canadian specialtytelevision services; in 1995, Alliance launchedShowcase Television while Atlantis launchedLife Network (which has since been renamed "Slice"); in fall 1997 the companies launchedHistory Television andHGTV Canada respectively. Earlier that year, Alliance Atlantis teamed up with Hallmark Cards to create Crayola Kids Adventures, a series of threedirect-to-video adaptations of well-known children's novels. Atlantis had also been a major investor inYTV in its first few years before selling out toShaw Communications and later,Corus Entertainment from 1999.[6]
In 1998, the company purchased 75% ofCineplex Odeon Films.[7] In 1999, GermanKinowelt purchased an interest in Alliance Atlantis' UK distribution arm, which was soon renamed toMomentum Pictures in 2000.[8][9] Also that year, the company secured the Canadian rights to distribute features by Destination Films.[10] Also in 2000, it purchased the rights toCSI: Crime Scene Investigation from Disney'sTouchstone Television.[11][12] Another major deal in 2000 was a renewal of their distribution pact withArtisan Entertainment, including Canadian distribution of Artisan material, and UK theatrical distribution of Artisan films via Momentum Pictures.[13]
The company expanded its business with its launch of its children's production label AAC Kids in 1999,[14] and its nonfiction production label, AAC Fact in 2000.[15][16] These labels were dissolved in 2003.[17]
In 2000, AAC Kids signed a European co-financing and distribution deal with German studioTV-Loonland AG.[18] The distribution deal was valued at $14 million.[19]
In 2001, the company purchasedSalter 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, Alliance Atlantis later closed the majority of its production arm, aside from the highly profitableCSI: Crime Scene Investigation family of series, which it co-produces withCBS Television Studios. It briefly maintained Salter Street's long-runningThis Hour Has 22 Minutes before transferring the show to theHalifax Film Company, made up of former Salter Street employees. Its primary business became its ownership of a number of Canadian specialty services, which, in addition to those listed above, later includedFood Network,Discovery Health (now FYI Canada),BBC Canada,BBC Kids and more.
Throughout the years, the company had purchased assets of several bankrupt studios, including Norstar Entertainment, Telescene, Peace Arch, Cinemavault, Odeon Films and in 2005, had bought out the television library ofFireworks Distributing Corporation fromCanWest Global Communications.[20]
In 2007, Alliance Atlantis was named one ofCanada's Top 100 Employers, as published inMaclean's magazine, the only broadcaster to be included on the list.[21]
On December 20, 2006, the company announced that it was "exploring strategic alternatives", effectively putting the company up for sale. Expected bidders includedCanwest Global,Corus Entertainment,Astral Media, andRogers Communications.[22] The rights toCSI were expected to be sold separately, with CBS Paramount Television as the most likely bidder.[23] A similar announcement was made previously regarding the Motion Picture Distribution unit, which is also expected to be sold separately while finding a bidder to acquire most parts of the company.
On January 10, 2007, it was announced that Alliance Atlantis would be acquired by a consortium ofCanwest Global andGS Capital Partners, an affiliate ofGoldman Sachs.
Following Canwest seeking creditor protection in late 2009, Shaw Communications subsequently took over most of Alliance Atlantis's former broadcasting assets as of October 27, 2010. after CRTC approval for the sale was announced on October 22.[25] Alliance Atlantis (CW Media) became part of theShaw Media division.[26]Corus Entertainment acquiredShaw Media on April 1, 2016.[27]
Entertainment One would later acquire Alliance Films on January 9, 2013, and all of their subsidiaries from Goldman Sachs Group, similar to the purchase ofMaple Pictures a year prior.[28][29] eOne subsequently adopted the 2004 Alliance Atlantis fanfare, still in use by Alliance Films, for their own logo. On November 20, 2014, Echo Bridge Entertainment sold Alliance Atlantis' children's programs, including the international distribution rights to theDegrassi franchise, toDHX Media.[30] In 2017, producerSteven Paul announced that he would acquire the non-family assets of Echo Bridge Entertainment, including the international distribution rights to Alliance Atlantis' library (with the exception of its children's programs that are still owned by DHX Media/WildBrain) and later folded it into SP Releasing, in turn licensed most of Alliance Atlantis, Cineplex Odeon Films, Echo Bridge andPM Entertainment libraries toFilmRise for digital distribution and online streaming.[31] eOne in turn was acquired by U.S. toy makerHasbro in 2019. On August 3, 2023, Hasbro announced that it would sell most of eOne's assets, including the copyrights and Canadian distribution rights to the library of Alliance Atlantis, toLionsgate (which Hasbro attempted to acquire in 2017).[32] The deal closed on December 27, 2023.
Specialty Channels
Websites
NOTE: Channels marked inBOLD lettering indicates Alliance Atlantis was the managing partner.
Proposed but never launched
Alliance Atlantis owned a chain of cinemas calledAlliance Cinemas. The chain owned movie theatres inBritish Columbia andOntario and was based inToronto.
This division of Alliance Atlantis developed and distributed various television programmes to Canadian, American and International broadcasters. The programs ranged from series, lifestyle and documentaries. Some documentaries were produced through the AAC Fact unit.
In April 2008,Echo Bridge Home Entertainment acquired the television catalogue of Alliance Atlantis.[34] In November 2014,DHX Media (which changed its name toWildBrain in 2019) acquired a majority of Echo Bridge's children's catalogue.[35]
In 2011, the German distributor m4e AG acquired the catalogue ofTV-Loonland AG, AAC Kids' European distributor.[36] In 2017, the Belgian distributorStudio 100 acquired a majority stake in m4e AG.[37]
Alliance Films was a major motion picture distribution/production company which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Formally known as Motion Picture Distribution LP, it was re branded and relaunched in 2007 due to the break-up of its preceding company, Alliance Atlantis, which was sold off piece by piece toCanwest Global,GS Capital Partners, along with several other smaller companies. Alliance Atlantis and Vivafilm home video releases were manufactured and distributed byNBCUniversal'sUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Entertainment One (eOne) later acquired Alliance Films on January 9, 2013, for $225 million and merged Alliance Films and all of their subsidiaries under the latter brand.[38] Most of the assets of eOne, as well as Alliance Films libraries was subsequently bought byLionsgate in late 2023.
| International | |
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| National | |
