Alliance Atlantis
From Open Encyclopedia
| Image:Alliance Atlantis.png | |
| Type | Public (TSX: AAC) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Toronto, Ontario (1998) |
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Key people | Anthony F. Griffiths - Lead Director Michael I.M. MacMillan - Chairman |
| Industry | Media |
| Products | Specialty Channels, Movie Distribution |
| Revenue | Image:Green up.png$1.02 billion CAN |
| Operating Income | {{{operating_income}}} |
| Net Income | {{{net_income}}} |
| Employees | 850 (2003) |
| Website | www.allianceatlantis.com |
| {{{footnotes}}} | |
Alliance Atlantis Communications is a Toronto-based media company, which now operates primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada.
History
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; Alliance's CEO, Robert Lantos, was specifically interested in moving back into a production role. (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 while Atlantis launched Life Network; 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 Canadian distributor of Fahrenheit 9/11.[1] The company also purchased the now defunct Salter Street Films, which produced a number of television shows for both the Canadian and international market.
Citing lower profits, it has all but closed its production arm, aside from This Hour Has 22 Minutes and the highly-profitable CSI: Crime Scene Investigation family of series, which it co-produces with CBS Productions.
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, BBC Canada and BBC Kids and more.
Motion Picture Distribution LP, publicly traded through the Movie Distribution Income Fund TSX: FLM.UN, is responsible for distribution of American- and Canadian-made films both in Canada and the United Kingdom, under the Alliance Atlantis and Odeon Films banners. In Canada it distributes the libraries of Miramax and New Line Cinema, among others. In partnership with Famous Players, this unit also operates Alliance Atlantis Cinemas, owner of 5 theatres and 24 screens in Canada. As the openings of all Alliance Atlantis-distributed films now read, Alliance Atlantis is "an indirect limited partner of Motion Picture Distribution LP, not a general partner", although it does, in fact, control the general partner of the partnership, and hence controls the distribution unit itself.
