Alliance Atlantis

Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Canadian media company that 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 the result of a merger of two companies: Atlantis Communications, founded in 1978 by Michael MacMillan, and Alliance 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 by Canwest Global Communications and an affiliate of Goldman Sachs that year. The motion picture division was then spun off and operated independently as Alliance Films, headquartered in Montreal (subsequently sold to Entertainment One and later, Lionsgate), and the international television distribution division was sold to Echo Bridge Entertainment.

All of the former Alliance Atlantis specialty networks, except for the now-defunct BBC Kids, are now owned by Corus Entertainment. The films division was later acquired by Entertainment 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 the Alliance Cinemas banner until January 1, 2021; the theaters under the chain are now owned by Cineplex Entertainment. Provided by Wikipedia