is a
Toronto -based media company, which now operates primarily as a
Specialty Service operator in
Canada .
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 '', 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 the highly-profitable '''' family of series, which it co-produces with
CBS Productions. 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 ,
BBC Canada and
BBC Kids and more.
, publicly traded through the Movie Distribution Income Fund , 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 three Toronto-area theatres.. All materials relating to Alliance Atlantis-distributed films now contain an awkwardly-worded disclaimer stating that Alliance Atlantis is "an indirect limited partner of Motion Picture Distribution LP, not a general partner". However, in fact, the company
controls the general partner of the partnership, and hence continues to control the distribution unit itself.
