Alliance Atlantis through the years.

Earlier this year--almost 10 years after merging two Canadian companies to become a major player--Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) became a top draw for competitors by putting itself on the selling block. A proposed bid from CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is currently under review.

In 1998, Canada's filmed entertainment industry received a well-deserved international push with the merger of producer and broadcaster Alliance Communications and Atlantis, a then-20-year-old TV producer and owner of a Canadian cable net.

As opposed to some of the monopoly concerns that have emerged from the most recent bid, the initial merger of Alliance and Atlantis was seen as a positive move for Canada to improve its status on the international filmed entertainment stage. However, one report at the time ironically suggested the two decided to combine forces rather than be bought out by another company.

Under the new umbrella, AAC initially represented four cablenets: Showcase, History, Life Network (now Slice) and HGTV Canada, as well as production and distribution interests for series such as Due South and Earth." Final Conflict. Additionally, Alliance had become one of Canada's top motion picture distributors, and had dipped its toe into big screen production.

The first order of business under the new union introduced fresh genre-specific production and distribution divisions. In September 1999, the young company stepped out of its primetime drama comfort zone to create AAC Kids. The new brand launched to create children's programming, and also to tap into the lucrative licensing and merchandising industry for kids. A year after its launch, Ken Faier was brought in to lead the division--where he stayed until moving to Vancouver toon house Nerd Corps in 2005. Now under Alan Gregg's remit, its most popular in-house production is Lunar Jim, a preschool stop-motion animated series that bowed in 2006 on France 5, Canada's CBC, ABC Kids in Australia, CBBC and CBeebies in the U.K. and Germany's Ki.ka and ZDF.

When AAC acquired Great North Communications in July 2000, it spawned a catalog of approximately 700 hours of documentary and nonfiction programming for the new brand, as well as the creation of AAC Fact. Factual programming co-produced by AAC serves up a fair chunk of Canadian-made series that is broadcast on its various cable and diginets.

Over the course of a few years, the company's specialty efforts jumped from four to 13 cable and digital channels, thanks in part to Canada's move into digital cable in 2000. Showcase spawned two offshoot channels: Showcase Diva, targeted at women, and Showcase Action for men. BBC Canada and BBC Kids, the only kid-targeted BBC channel to broadcast outside of the U.K., also fall under AAC's remit, as do Discovery Health Channel and National Geographic Canada.

A partnership with E.W. Scripps in the U.S., spawned from HGTV Canada, brought a number of its formats north of the border, including Food Network Canada, which, when it launched in 2000, replaced the American version of the channel that had been broadcast in Canada for three years.

At the time of the switch, Michael MacMillan, chairman and CEO of AAC, said it was the first time in Canadian broadcasting history that a U.S. channel stepped aside to partner with a Canadian company in the launch of a new national channel. Scripps' Fine Living Network also bowed on AAC's digital system.

With its diginets in place, AAC was one of the first companies to look toward the computer to launch its next original series. In August 2000, a 24/7 reality-based TV station launched on the Internet. U8TV was filmed from a downtown Toronto loft, and viewers could log on to watch the unscripted and unedited daily life of eight real Canadians. "Network-quality TV production is merging with website content," MacMillan said in 2000. The online venture lasted only one season, but was credited for being a pioneer of both reality-style and Internet-based programming.

One venture that did last was a co-production TV partnership with CBS Productions and Jerry Bruckheimer. On August 2, 2000, production began on an investigative drama series called CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This collaboration has culminated in two Emmy Awards, a Telegatto for Best TV Series in Italy and two spin-off series: CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. The program airs in over 70 countries, and regularly appears among the top five Nielsen ratings in the States, capturing an average of over 20 million viewers per episode.

In December 2001, AAC acquired the rights to Independent Film Channel (IFC) through its spring 2001 purchase of Salter Street Films. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based television and film production company was initially awarded the digital broadcasting license for IFC in 2000. The creators of series such as Lexx and Canadian hits This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Made In Canada were also the co-production partners for Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine. Two years after the purchase, AAC shuttered Salter Street's operations and transferred its ongoing productions to the Toronto head office, save for This Hour, which flies under the Halifax Film Company moniker, owned by former Salter Street cofounder, Michael Donovan.

Despite riding high from its CSI success and increased distribution and production hours, in January 2002 the company reviewed its production businesses and consolidated its Entertainment Group. Existing television activities merged with its in-house motion picture production activities, and worked alongside AAC's two other groups, the Broadcast Group and the Motion Picture Distribution Group. The merger resulted in a job loss of 80 full-time positions, but MacMillan stressed that consolidation would eliminate overlap. More cuts came in April, when approximately 35 full-timers received severance packages.

The Entertainment Group came under review in December 2003 following what AAC called a downturn in domestic and international demand for scripted fare. The company halted production of miniseries, MOWs and feature films, preferring instead to focus on distribution. About 70 full-timers were made redundant, and production offices in Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Vancouver and London, England closed up shop, resulting in a cash savings of about C$27 million (U.S.$23 million) over two years.

Meanwhile, the broadcasting division continued to flourish. In early March 2007, AAC rebranded its Life Network as Slice. The new name taps into the guilty pleasure aspect of watching TV programming on fashion, celebrities, and gossip, while also maintaining its core genre of family, relationships and finances for women. The channel launched with 13 new original series.

The broadcasting phenom is also embracing HD at a rapid rate. Its National Geographic Channel and Showcase launched high definition channels at the end of 2006.

And now with CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners bidding on the AAC empire, it's up to Canada's regulatory body, the CRTC, to map out the company's next 10 years. What is certain is that AAC will continue to be an international player in the filmed entertainment field.