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Synergy Down Under – Village Roadshow

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Hans van Leeuwen of Bloomberg reports on the ongoing moves of Village Roadshow to create a synergistic conglomerate.  They’re a theme park operator, film producer, majority owner in a radio broadcaster, and they’re Australia’s biggest cinema chain, and now they’re looking to expand their theme park business and start up a music division.  Last year, they acquired Time Warner’s interest in parks they jointly owned, including Movie World, Sea World, and Wet ‘n’ Wild.

The company has hired an executive from Los Angeles to develop a new music business in the next three months, Burke said, without naming the new recruit or his previous employer.

"We’re doing around 10 movies a year, and we intend to be very proactive in getting music into those movies that will enhance the movies, and also figure some ways of selling that music and turning that into a profit center," Burke said.

Sounds like a reasonable plan.  Something else in the artlce caught my eye, too.

Australia’s parliament last October approved laws allowing overseas-based companies to take control of local media, and permitting broadcasters and newspaper publishers to merge. The law has not yet come into effect.

Look to see some deals, possibly involving American and British companies.