Alliance Atlantis

Alliance Atlantis (**Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.)**is a Canadian Company Based in Toronto, Canada. The Company operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney. Alliance Atlantis was Originally as Alliance Entertainment Corporation (From 1985 to 1991), Then It was Turned Into Alliance Communications Inc. in 1991 (It was remained From 1991 to 1998), There was also another Company Called Atlantis Communications Inc. (Which It also Remained from 1985 up until to 1998), Then in 1998. Alliance Communications Inc. and Atlantis Communications Inc. Merged Each Other and were Both Turned into Alliance Atlantis (It was remained from 1998 to 2007), Then in 2007. The Company Went Bankrupt. But then in 2008, It came back as Alliance Films (Which It also remained from 2008 to 2013), In 2013. Alliance Films went Bankrupt. and It was acquired by Entertainment One (A.K.A E1 Entertainment) in 2013. Alliance Atlantis Also had a French-Canadian Version of there Logo Too Called Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm (It was also Originally as Alliance Vivafilm from 1991 to 1998). Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm Worked on the French-Canadian Baby Einstein VHS's from 2000 to 2001, It was then Renamed into Alliance Vivafilm Again (Which it also remained from 2008 to 2013), Then the French-Canadian Company got Bankrupt in 2013 as well. and was then acquired by Les Films Séville Pictures (A French-Canadian Company Owned by Entertainment One as Well)

The Company Worked With Artisan Entertainment and Family Home Entertainment/F.H.E. Kids to Make Canadian Baby Einstein VHS's from 2000 to 2001

But in 2002, When Disney was Buying Baby Einstein in Late 2001, Alliance Atlantis and Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm Lost the Rights to Baby Einstein, as well as Artisan Entertainment and Family Home Entertainment/F.H.E. Kids

## Formation and History

Alliance Atlantis was formed in 1998 from the merger of two former production companies, Alliance Communications (founded in 1985) and Atlantis Communications (founded in 1978). 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 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. Earlier that year, Alliance Atlantis teamed up with Hallmark Cards to create Crayola Kids Adventures, a series of three direct-to-video adaptations of famous children's novels. Atlantis had also been a major investor in YTV in its first few years before selling out to what is now Corus Entertainment.

In 1998, the company purchased 75% of Cineplex Odeon Films.

In 2001, 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, Alliance Atlantis 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 Television Studios. 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 became its ownership of a number of Canadian specialty services, which, in addition to those listed above, now include Food Network, Discovery Health (now FYI Canada), 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.

## Sale to Canwest / Goldman Sachs

On December 20, 2006, the company announced that it was "exploring strategic alternatives", effectively putting the company up for sale. Expected bidders included Canwest Global, Corus Entertainment, Astral Media, and Rogers Communications. The rights to *CSI* were expected to be sold separately, with CBS Paramount TV as the most likely bidder. 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 of Canwest Global and GS Capital Partners, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs.

* The Entertainment and Production division, consisting mainly of AAC's 50% stake in the lucrative *CSI* franchise, was acquired by GS Capital Partners. CBS Paramount TV gained Alliance Atlantis' international distribution rights to the programs.
	+ Alliance Atlantis' international television distribution operations were sold by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners to Echo Bridge Entertainment.
* Motion Picture Distribution LP, including its publicly traded income fund, was acquired by Canadian-based EdgeStone Capital Partners and GS Capital Partners. On January 15, 2008, Edgemont's 51% voting stake (and 38.5% equity stake) in the Alliance label was purchased by Société générale de financement du Québec, an investment agency of the provincial government. Since the breakup, the company's films have been distributed under the "Alliance" banner for English-language releases and "Alliance Vivafilm" for French-language releases until the sale of the company to E-One
* The Broadcasting division was jointly acquired by Canwest and GS Capital Partners, with the former owning a majority voting interest and the latter a majority of the equity. Canwest owns 66.67% and GS owns 33.32% of **CW Media**, the holding company for the former AAC channels. Initially, Canwest still managed the channels it owned before the merger separately. It was expected that the Canwest and CW Media broadcasting divisions would eventually be merged, potentially also giving GS a sizable interest in Global and other Canwest channels (these plans became moot after Canwest's creditor protection filings).

### **Ramifications**

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. Alliance Atlantis (CW Media) became part of the Shaw Media division. Corus Entertainment acquired Shaw Media on April 1, 2016.

Entertainment One would later acquire Alliance Films on January 9, 2013 and all of their subsidiaries from Goldman Sachs Group, similar to the purchase of Maple Pictures a year prior. On November 20, 2014, Echo Bridge Entertainment sold Alliance Atlantis' children's programs, including the international distribution rights to the *Degrassi* franchise, to DHX Media while Sony Pictures Television holds syndication rights.

## Videos They Distributed With Baby Einstein in Canada

* Baby Einstein - Language Nursery (1997)
* Baby Mozart - Music Festival (1998)
* Baby Bach - Musical Adventure (Late 1998/Early 1999)
* Baby Shakespeare - World of Poetry (1999)
* Baby Van Gogh - World of Colors (2000)
* Baby Santa's Music Box (2000)
* Baby Dolittle - Neighborhood Animals (2001)
* Baby Dolittle - World Animals (2001)

## Trivia

* The Company also Worked on Movies and TV Shows Like: Existenz, Sunshine (1999 Film), Bowling For Columbine, The Claim (2000 Film) (The Movie also Featured the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad), Lost in the Barrens, The Sweet Hereafter, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, Before Tomorrow (2008 Film), Passchendaele (2008 film), Crash (1996 Film), Felicia's Journey (1999 Film), Slackers (2002 Film), Foolproof (2003 Film), Saint Ralph (2004 Film), The Rocket 9: The Legend of Rocket Richard (2005 Film), It's A Boy Girl Thing (2006 Film), Insidious, The Woman in Black, The Lords of Salem, The Bay, Sinister, Dark Skies, The Legend of Sarila,Reboot (1994 TV Series), Beast Wars: Transformers, Shadow Raiders, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, Trailer Park Boys, CSI: NY, Henry's World, Poko, Peep and the Big Wide World, Lunar Jim, Dragon Booster, Due South, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and More

* The Company Also Distributed Lots of Movies Like: Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Jonah: A Veggietales Movie, Pokemon 4Ever, Pokemon Jirachi Wish Maker, Planet 51, Coraline, ParaNorman, and More
* Alliance Atlantis Also Distributed on One of the Baby Einstein Ripoffs: So Smart!
* Alliance Atlantis Had Movie Theatre in Toronto, Canada Called Alliance Atlantis Cinemas (It was Remained from 1998 to 2007), Then the Movie Theatre left Alliance Atlantis in 2008, Then The Movie Theatre was then renamed into Alliance Cinemas In 2008, The Theatre was then a Independent Movie Theatre, Until when the Movie Theatre was then bought by Cineplex Entertainment in 2019