Riley relocates to Dublin

Ted Riley, president of distribution for Alliance Atlantis’ newly formed Entertainment Group, has relocated to Dublin, Ireland, where he has set up a second operations office in the tax-friendly country.

According to an AAC spokesperson, the new office makes sense because of the available human resources, as well as the proximity to the London sales office and ease of travel.

Riley’s move, which is permanent for at least three years, is said to be a logical function of his responsibilities for motion picture distribution, assumed under the new Entertainment Group.

The new office, officially opened March 11, employs about 20, the majority of whom are local to the area.

The company also has an operations office in Shannon, Ireland, a known tax haven for Canadian entertainment companies like Nelvana, Cinar and Sullivan Entertainment. The Shannon office has less than 10 employees.

Riley, AAC chairman/CEO Michael MacMillan, and exec VP/CFO Judson Martin refused Playback’s requests for comment on the move.

PrideVision to move into U.S.

As one of Canada’s top 10 diginets and the first of its kind, Headline Media Group’s PrideVision TV is looking to expand to the U.S. and take on two new emerging gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered channels south of the border.

PrideVision’s VP marketing Anna McCusker is confident about interest south of the border and says more GLBT channels would create healthy competition. ‘We feel we have an incredible product. We’ve launched here in Canada and we’re ready to launch in the U.S.’

In January, Viacom’s MTV and Showtime announced plans to launch a GLBT channel by 2003. Weeks later, MDC Entertainment Group announced its own gay television venture, Alt1-TV.

PrideVision, which successfully introduced itself to New York at the 10th Annual Gay Expo in March, is heading to MIP-TV in an attempt to secure North American rights for the channel.

Forty percent of visitors to PrideVision’s website originate in the U.S.

William Morris picks up Distraction formats

The William Morris Agency has reached an agreement with Distraction Formats to exclusively represent several of the Montreal-based company’s television formats in the U.S. market.

Beverly Hills-based William Morris will work to package the formats with production companies, talent and other necessary elements to secure placement on U.S. television.

Camera Cafe, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Dark are among the titles to be repped by the U.S. agency, which has had great success in introducing European formats to American viewers.

In other news, Distraction has sold its first Canadian French-language format to English Canada – Un gars, une fille from Avanti Cine Video to Halifax’s Big Motion Pictures, which is adapting it as A Guy and A Girl.

Distraction has offices in Montreal, London, Paris and Budapest, and represents more than 100 formats acquired from Canada and around the world.

Report says digi subs up

The buzz around the launch of new diginets last fall helped drive the number of digital subscribers up 13% in the final few months of 2001, according to a recent report by Decima Publishing.

‘Several digital TV providers had a record fourth quarter of 2001 in terms of subscriber additions, including digital TV leader Bell ExpressVu and Shaw Cablesystems,’ says Mario Moto, Decima publisher and editor-in-chief.

According to the study, Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice had 62% market share, versus cable’s 35%. These percentages are expected to be 61% and 37% at the end of 2002.

The number of digital TV subscribers topped 2.8 million at the end of 2001 and currently stands at about 2.9 million.

Other findings suggest the Canadian cable industry is adding digital subscribers faster than the U.S. cable industry. According to the report, the Canadian digital subscriber base increased by 16% in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared to 11% in the U.S.

The report, The Digital Domain: Tracking the Growth and Development of the Canadian Digital TV Market, is the third in a quarterly series that provides a detailed breakdown of the digital TV market.

New soundstage for Kelowna

A new soundstage in Kelowna, B.C. is hoping to attract some production away from Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. The Canamera (Okanagan) Film Studios features a 2,400-square-foot, clear-span production space, 20-foot ceilings and 12,000 square feet of production office space. The studio is 20 minutes from Kelowna International Airport and 15 minutes from the Okanagan’s largest ski resort.

‘The savings over Vancouver studio space, which is hard to come by, are well worth the three-hour drive from Vancouver,’ says studio manager and partner Chris Clayton.

B.C.’s tax credits increase for productions that work outside of Vancouver.

Peace Arch debt shrinks

Vamcouver’s Peace Arch Entertainment, which has recently been buying down its debt, made another installment March 18.

The company says it has, through general working capital payments, reduced its outstanding subordinated debt by $1.2 million and reduced its current bank indebtedness by $6.6 million. During the past six months, Peace Arch has reduced the amount of its subordinated debt by 72% to $2.2 million, from $7.9 million on Aug. 31, 2001. The company expects to retire the subordinated debt by July 31.

‘This most recent repayment of subordinated debt is ahead of our planned repayment schedule and confirms our commitment to eliminate high-cost bridge financing as quickly as possible,’ says Juliet Jones, president and CEO.

Cinefranco expands festival

Celebrating its 5th anniversary, Toronto’s annual festival of francophone films, Cinefranco, will expand its program to seven days, April 4-10, with a new venue, a new look and more films.

Traditionally held over a weekend, the festival will this year present 29 French-language feature films, including two winners of the FIPRESCI Prize: Claude Miller’s Betty Fisher and Other Stories (Montreal) and Sandrine Veysset’s Martha Martha (Cannes).

‘We are very touched that Toronto audiences have demanded so much more Cinefranco,’ says executive director Marcelle Lean.

Among the selection of Quebec films are Wedding Night (Emile Gaudreault), Le ciel sur la tete (Andre Melancon, Genevieve Lefebvre), Ice Cream, Chocolate and Other Consolations (Julie Hivon) and Les Boys III (Louis Saia).

All screenings will take place at the Famous Players Canada Square Cinemas.

ReelWorld launches 2nd year

The ReelWorld Film Festival, a celebration of diversity in film and video, will kick off its second year April 4-8 in Toronto with more than 100 hours of features, shorts, animation, docs and music videos from around the world.

Program highlights include the opening night gala On Their Knees (Anais Granofsky) and other such Canadian screenings as Asgar Massombagi’s Khaled and Dennis Jackson’s Christmas at Wapos Bay, a Ramiro Puerta tribute, and panels including as Going Global: Developing Projects for International Markets and Perfect Pitch: Getting Their Attention, Selling Your Stories.

The festival takes place at Famous Players’ Silver City Empress Walk.