Alliance Atlantis Communications And Partners Announce Applications For Exciting And Appealing Channels.

Business Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2000

(NASDAQ:AACB) (TSE:AAC.A.) (TSE:AAC.B.)

- Original concepts include Independent Film and Documentary

Channel, The Book Channel, and Signature Television

- BBC, E.W.Scripps , News Corporation and Healtheon/WebMD and

National Geographic offer strong brand names for additional new

channels

ALLIANCE ATLANTIS COMMUNICATIONS INC., through its Broadcasting Group ALLIANCE ATLANTIS BROADCASTING, today announced a number of strategic partnerships and channel applications the Company filed on April 3 in response to the Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) call for applications for licences for new digital specialty television channels.

"We believe our proposed channels and partners are a highly attractive combination of both well-recognized and highly respected international brands, as well as a number of new and equally exciting services we have created that we hope to be able to offer to Canadians in the future," said Michael MacMillan, Chairman and CEO, ALLIANCE ATLANTIS COMMUNICATIONS INC. "Strategically, our Broadcasting Group is incredibly well-positioned with a strong infrastructure in place to add additional services that will contribute significantly to the overall growth of the Canadian broadcasting system and the Company," Mr. MacMillan added.

"We designed our new channels based on the success and leadership that Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting has clearly demonstrated over the past six years in the areas of entertainment and information specialty television," said Phyllis Yaffe, President, ALLIANCE ATLANTIS BROADCASTING INC. "In addition, we will offer high quality digital television with interactive programming accompanied by a strong web presence."

In response to the CRTC's plan for two different categories of new services that it proposes to licence, ALLIANCE ATLANTIS submitted several applications in Category One. These include its wholly-owned Independent Film and Documentary Channel, designed as a companion service to ALLIANCE ATLANTIS' Showcase channel. Also filed yesterday were applications for ALLIANCE ATLANTIS' majority-controlled The Book Channel, representing ALLIANCE ATLANTIS' commitment to the written word as an important force in society, and also majority-controlled Signature Television, a biography service building on ALLIANCE ATLANTIS' strong commitment through History Television to tell important stories of Canadians and others from around the world. Both The Book Channel and Signature Television applications were submitted in partnership by ALLIANCE ATLANTIS and two-time Emmy Award-winning production house Associated Producers.

Health Network Canada, which is born from the success of ALLIANCE ATLANTIS' work on Life Network with health programming, is majority-controlled by ALLIANCE ATLANTIS and offered in partnership with WebMD International, a joint venture with News Corporation in the U.S.,and Healtheon-WebMD, which owns and operates the most widely consulted health-care website on the Internet.

In Category Two, ALLIANCE ATLANTIS has teamed up with a number of powerhouse international partners to offer a variety of brand name channels. These include National Geographic Channel Canada, National Geographic Voyager, and National Geographic's Adventure One (all three proposed in partnership with National Geographic Channels International); BBC Canada, featuring the best of the BBC's drama and entertainment programming (in partnership with BBC Worldwide); and D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself, in partnership with The E.W. Scripps Company and Corus Entertainment). These are majority controlled by ALLIANCE ATLANTIS.

ALLIANCE ATLANTIS has also filed a number of additional channels on a variety of themes, several created in partnership with well-respected domestic partners.

It is expected that the CRTC will begin the hearings for all channel applications filed yesterday in August, with licensing in winter 2000.

ALLIANCE ATLANTIS COMMUNICATIONS INC. is a leading creator, producer, distributor and broadcaster of filmed entertainment with significant ownership interests in seven Canadian specialty television networks Showcase, Life Network, History Television, HGTV (Home & Garden Television) Canada, Headline Sports, Historia and Series+. The Company's principal business activities are conducted through three operating groups: Television, Motion Pictures and Broadcasting. Headquartered in Toronto, ALLIANCE ATLANTIS operates offices in Los Angeles, Montreal, Vancouver, London, Sydney and Shannon. The Company's common shares are listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange - trading symbols AAC.A, AAC.B and on NASDAQ - trading symbol AACB. The Company's web site is www.allianceatlantis.com.