great North International president Andy Thomson has confirmed talks with Alliance Atlantis Communications about a pending takeover of the Edmonton-based, doc-driven company.

‘We’ve been having discussions for sure,’ says Thomson. ‘It’s on the record that Alliance Atlantis is a significant shareholder in Great North and has been since 1994. That share was recently increased to the mid-30% level. There’s no question they’re moving toward increasing that percentage of ownership.

‘We are in discussions. There’s nothing more definite to announce now.’

While aac ceo Michael MacMillan was unavailable for comment at press time, the purchase of Great North would be a logical move for aac, given its loosely announced plans to launch a doc/factual programming division.

aac has also applied for a doc-based specialty channel in the crtc’s latest call for new digital and pay-tv licences. Hearings commence Aug. 4.

Among its many tv properties, Great North Productions is well-known for such doc series as Inferno, The Canadians: Biographies of a Nation and Acorn: The Nature Nut.