Fears as Alliance on the block by Gayle MacDonald
Source : Globe & Mail
Alliance Atlantis is up for sale and independent television producers worry they will end up taking the largest hit
December 21, 2006
With a report from Guy Dixon
From the day Michael MacMillan took over a newly merged Alliance Atlantis Communications in the summer of 1998, he basically began hearing the same thing: Get out of production, it's risky. Stay in broadcasting, it's profitable.
He heeded that advice.
And in late 2003, MacMillan did one of the toughest things of his career, and laid off his long time friend and business partner (president of production) Seaton McLean, along with 70 other employees, officially signalling the end of any aspirations to do in-house production of film and TV.
The kilt-wearing MacMillan then focused his attention on building a broadcast group that one industry observer described yesterday as simply "to die for." Alliance Atlantis's 13 specialty channels are now the jewel in the corporation's crown, including such golden brand names as Showcase, Life Network, History Television, Food Network and HGTV.
Yesterday, MacMillan announced what Bay Street had long been whispering about -- that Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was for sale. The circling sharks are rumoured to include all the usual suspects: CanWest Global, Astral Media, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Bell Globemedia and several independent consortiums, all of whom are practically salivating over the specialty channels in particular.
Toronto producer Robert Lantos, who sold Alliance eight years ago to MacMillan and his partners, said yesterday that the news of a potential sale saddened him because it's the "end of an era."
"When I founded the company there was a dream: to create a Canadian distribution/production company that could compete with the giants of the industry throughout the world," he said. "That was the idea, and we did that. If it's sold, that's officially the end of that dream.
"Technically I don't have the right to have feelings, but nonetheless I do have them. Mainly because no one has stepped in to fill the [production] void. If the sale goes through, it means further consolidation, less competition, and more power in the hands of the few. And we all know what that means."
From a cultural perspective, however, the deal will likely have a minimal impact, industry watchers say. The major implication for independent producers in this country is that there will be one less door to knock with a pitch in this era of rampant consolidation.
"It's kind of scary," said Jennifer Podemski, a Toronto-based independent producer and the executive producer of the Showcase series Mocassin Flats.
"I'm a little bit shocked. [But] I just hope that at the end of the day, the mandates remain the same and that independent producers still have a piece of the pie. It's the Showcases and those specialty channels that helped us keep our careers alive."
In recent years, Alliance Atlantis's production mandate has been straightforward: farm out to independent producers the quota of production needed to fill its Canadian-content requirements under the CRTC rules set out under each broadcast licence.
Each specialty service, however, has customized licence conditions, each with its own scheduling requirements for Canadian content as well as spending requirements.
Of the Alliance Atlantis batch, Showcase is the biggest supporter of independent production, likely followed by History Television.
Showcase -- which was created by Lantos -- made a significant move into original production with a bevy of successful indigenous shows, including Trailer Park Boys, Billable Hours and Rent-a-Goalie.
Showcase airs an entirely Canadian drama schedule in the heart of prime time.
But the lifestyle channels are filled -- by and large -- with American imports padded with Cancon productions that consists largely of magazine-style cooking, gardening and home-decorating shows.
"If there is fallout from the deal," one industry watcher noted, "the decrease in diversity of ownership means independent producers lose another green light.
"If a sale goes through this great independent grouping of channels will disappear into someone else," he added.
A sale of Alliance Atlantis would come in the wake of last summer's takeover by Bell Globemedia of feisty CHUM Ltd. "The issue here for those making film and television in this country is that their portholes for making pitches continues to shrink," the source concluded. "We're seeing fewer and fewer gatekeepers, and from the perspective of a producer, that's not great news."
© Globe and Mail
From the day Michael MacMillan took over a newly merged Alliance Atlantis Communications in the summer of 1998, he basically began hearing the same thing: Get out of production, it's risky. Stay in broadcasting, it's profitable.
He heeded that advice.
And in late 2003, MacMillan did one of the toughest things of his career, and laid off his long time friend and business partner (president of production) Seaton McLean, along with 70 other employees, officially signalling the end of any aspirations to do in-house production of film and TV.
The kilt-wearing MacMillan then focused his attention on building a broadcast group that one industry observer described yesterday as simply "to die for." Alliance Atlantis's 13 specialty channels are now the jewel in the corporation's crown, including such golden brand names as Showcase, Life Network, History Television, Food Network and HGTV.
Yesterday, MacMillan announced what Bay Street had long been whispering about -- that Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was for sale. The circling sharks are rumoured to include all the usual suspects: CanWest Global, Astral Media, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Bell Globemedia and several independent consortiums, all of whom are practically salivating over the specialty channels in particular.
Toronto producer Robert Lantos, who sold Alliance eight years ago to MacMillan and his partners, said yesterday that the news of a potential sale saddened him because it's the "end of an era."
"When I founded the company there was a dream: to create a Canadian distribution/production company that could compete with the giants of the industry throughout the world," he said. "That was the idea, and we did that. If it's sold, that's officially the end of that dream.
"Technically I don't have the right to have feelings, but nonetheless I do have them. Mainly because no one has stepped in to fill the [production] void. If the sale goes through, it means further consolidation, less competition, and more power in the hands of the few. And we all know what that means."
From a cultural perspective, however, the deal will likely have a minimal impact, industry watchers say. The major implication for independent producers in this country is that there will be one less door to knock with a pitch in this era of rampant consolidation.
"It's kind of scary," said Jennifer Podemski, a Toronto-based independent producer and the executive producer of the Showcase series Mocassin Flats.
"I'm a little bit shocked. [But] I just hope that at the end of the day, the mandates remain the same and that independent producers still have a piece of the pie. It's the Showcases and those specialty channels that helped us keep our careers alive."
In recent years, Alliance Atlantis's production mandate has been straightforward: farm out to independent producers the quota of production needed to fill its Canadian-content requirements under the CRTC rules set out under each broadcast licence.
Each specialty service, however, has customized licence conditions, each with its own scheduling requirements for Canadian content as well as spending requirements.
Of the Alliance Atlantis batch, Showcase is the biggest supporter of independent production, likely followed by History Television.
Showcase -- which was created by Lantos -- made a significant move into original production with a bevy of successful indigenous shows, including Trailer Park Boys, Billable Hours and Rent-a-Goalie.
Showcase airs an entirely Canadian drama schedule in the heart of prime time.
But the lifestyle channels are filled -- by and large -- with American imports padded with Cancon productions that consists largely of magazine-style cooking, gardening and home-decorating shows.
"If there is fallout from the deal," one industry watcher noted, "the decrease in diversity of ownership means independent producers lose another green light.
"If a sale goes through this great independent grouping of channels will disappear into someone else," he added.
A sale of Alliance Atlantis would come in the wake of last summer's takeover by Bell Globemedia of feisty CHUM Ltd. "The issue here for those making film and television in this country is that their portholes for making pitches continues to shrink," the source concluded. "We're seeing fewer and fewer gatekeepers, and from the perspective of a producer, that's not great news."
© Globe and Mail
