Alliance Atlantis Communications and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced today that they have struck a three-year agreement to jointly commission Canadian television projects
ranging from dramatic series to children’s shows. Shows commissioned under this agreement will be broadcast on CBC and subsequently on other Alliance Atlantis channels. A number of jointly commissioned dramatic programs, including Third World, Jinnah On Crime, Chasing Cain and Escape from the Newsroom, will appear on both CBC and Alliance Atlantis channels. In addition, the agreement allows for an early telecast window on Alliance Atlantis channels of a number of signature CBC programs such as Made in Canada and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
“The development, production and broadcasting of popular Canadian television is a critical mandate for us at Alliance Atlantis,” said Michael MacMillan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. “Collaborating with the CBC represents a prime opportunity
for us to achieve this goal.”
“In today’s challenging media environment, CBC believes that partnerships between the public and private broadcast sector are key to our future and
beneficial to both sides,” said Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada. “More importantly, partnerships such as this benefit the
Canadian viewing public with more Canadian drama.”
“The CBC and Alliance Atlantis share a strong tradition and a common goal of working with Canadian producers to develop high-quality Canadian programming,” said Slawko Klymkiw, Executive Director, Network Programming,
CBC Television. “This agreement will further strengthen our ability to cultivate these kinds of exceptional home-grown projects.”
In addition to the joint-commissioning arrangement, CBC and Alliance Atlantis have agreed to develop a variety of shows together, including drama and comedy series, children’s programming, mini-series and television movies
for broadcast on both Alliance Atlantis and CBC channels.