Alliance Atlantis sale nears approval

Alliance Atlantis moves one step further to be owned by CanWest. It should be noted that Alliance Atlantis owns the distribution rights of the CSI franchise in Canada, so it looks like more CSI for us on TV, instead of good Canadian written drama which we need so badly. In Canada, we don't have a studio system, we have television broadcasters.

What does this deal mean for Canadian filmmakers? Well, since AA no longer funds Canadian films after the complete failure of Foolproof (2003), the sale can't make anything worse for us. But, since our track record of producing viable critical and commercial films is so spotty, I don't suspect CanWest will be eager to fund more independent cinema. AA's final Canadian film Saint Ralph(2004), unfortunately, died a slow death at the box office.