Broadcast
Four Media Company (4MC) chief executive Rob Walston says the facilities giant is targeting London to be the centre of a Europe-wide interactive content authoring and delivery service that will see it continue to acquire more of the capital's key post-production houses, writes Adrian Pennington.
The service will be branded under the name Liberty LiveWire simultaneously with the completion of the purchase of the Todd AO Corporation by 4MC parent Liberty Media.
Walston said: 'We intend to pursue what we see as a tremendous interactive business opportunity in the UK. This will connect the authoring of content and the posting of content for interactive television applications and commercials. Liberty is bringing a new genre of product offering related to the interactive TV area and we want the facilities that we have acquired to work with their existing clients and to offer new means of creating interactive content.
'We will deploy our own cable network or partner with an existing supplier such as AT&T or British Telecom to enable consumers to access this interactive experience,' he added. An integrated server network will also be established across London from next year. The German and French television markets will be accessed initially from the UK. 'We have a major presence in all major metropolitan centres producing television,' he said.
The facilities giant, which has outposts in Singapore, and east and west coast America, has not finished adding to its portfolio in the UK, which now includes Rushes and West One Television following the $40 million (£27 million) purchase of Virgin Digital Studios' post-production group.
'There are companies which can add significant value to our need to complete our full range of service offering,' Walston said. 'We are less interested in film effects companies than in companies with a strong broadcast and commercials client base. Any company that falls into those categories is a target.'
One specific requirement, he said, is for a company with a business relationship with a major film distributor. He denied approaching M2 Television, which recently signed a DVD authoring deal with Time-Warner subsidiary NVC Arts.
Although Rushes and SVC (acquired last month for£3.3 million) are to retain their separate identities, they are to be twinned as part of 4MC's fledging UK commercial division and headed by Rushes managing director Mark Hewitt. 'Since we joined Virgin in 1985 its attention has moved to a more consumer business so there were restrictions in terms of capital investment,' said Hewitt. '4MC and Liberty Media have shown willingness to invest in UK post-production which can only be positive.'
The amount paid for Rushes has not been divulged though it is understood to be around£10 million. West One is believed to have been priced under£3 million.
Responding to concerns among some of Soho's remaining independent post-houses that 4MC may use its muscle to squeeze rates, Walston said: 'We have no strategy to reduce costs or margins and will do everything we can to maintain each existing business as a profitable venture. In fact we may raise the bar in terms of investment. We believe we will bring more business to the London market - notably from the US. This new interactive content will keep a lot of people very busy.'
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