Echo Bridge to acquire Alliance Atlantis International Distribution

7 April 2008

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Needham/Los Angeles – Echo Bridge Entertainment will acquire, through a share purchase, Alliance Atlantis International Distribution from Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The deal will allow Echo Bridge Entertainment to distribute rights to first run and catalogue programming from Alliance Atlantis International Distribution worldwide, excluding Canada. Transaction is expected to close within the next three weeks, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The deal follows Echo Bridge Entertainment’s November-2007 corporate credit agreement with JPMorgan Securities which allows the company to acquire new product and programming assets, and to expand its worldwide sales infrastructure. Acquisition will add 7,500 titles and over 5,500 hours of programming to Echo Bridge Entertainment’s existing catalogue of 3,500 titles to total 11,000 titles across genres of features, primetime TV movies and series, children’s series, as well as lifestyle and factual programming to be exploited across all media.
International programme sales will be led by Daniel March, executive vice president, Echo Bridge Entertainment who is also offering programming at MIPTV. For US home entertainment, the new titles will be distributed by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment led by Nate Hart and Mike Newcomb, co-presidents of the division. Kevin Tannehill, head of domestic television, will oversee US TV, VOD and digital sales.
Programming available includes primetime drama series 91-episode Da Vinci’s Inquest starring Nicholas Campbell; 67-episode Due South starring Paul Gross; 88-episode PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal hosted by Dan Aykroyd; 22-episode Total Recall 2070 starring Matthew Bennett; and 110-episode Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict. Primetime movies include Hitler: Rise of Evil starring Robert Carlyle; Nuremberg starring Alec Baldwin; and World War II drama Haven starring Natasha Richardson.
Titles for teens include 143-part DeGrassi: The Next Generation starring Miriam McDonald, and 52-episode musical drama Instant Star, starring Alexz Johnson. Lifestyle series include 13-part At the End of my Leash, which features dog advocate Brad Pattison; 52-episode Crash Test Mommy, in which mothers are replaced for a weekend by a family member or friend; 52-part Design Inc. which showcases home renovation projects; and 26-episode Rich Bride Poor Bride on wedding planning.
Factual programming includes 24-episode Turning Points of History which looks at key moments in history that changed the world. Children’s shows include 46 half-hour episodes of pre-school series Lunar Jim a stop-motion animated series on discovery in the moon, as well as 39 half-hours of CGI-animated Dragon Booster.