Alliance Atlantis Considers Sale

TORONTO, December 20: Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.
(AACI) announced today that it is “exploring strategic alternatives,” seeking
expressions of interest from possible buyers of the company.

Southhill Strategy, owned by Alliance Atlantis’s Executive
Chairman Michael MacMillian and Atlantis Films founder Seaton McLean, owns a
controlling stake in the Canadian company. Southhill says it has not made a
firm decision as to whether or not it will sell its controlling interest.

Alliance Atlantis operates 13 specialty channels and
produces and distributes a range of programming, but its biggest asset is the CSI franchise, which it co-produces and distributes
around the world. In the third quarter of this year, the company’s profits rose
to C$17.7 million from C$12.2 million, thanks to second-window sales of the hit
forensics dramas. The three CBS shows brought in C$140.2 million in revenues in
Q3.