ENTERTAINMENT: Tuning in To Europe
The buzz word for the 1990s, especially in the entertainment business these days, is global. Paramount Communications last week announced that it had taken a major step in that direction by purchasing a 49% stake in the British firm Zenith, Europe's leading independent television programmer. A subsidiary of Carlton Communications, Zenith last year produced such dramas as The Paradise Club and Inspector Morse in Britain, as well as the romantic comedy Finnegan Begin Again in the U.S.
Paramount declined to say how much it had paid for the acquisition, but Carlton's 1988 annual report put revenues for the production company at $95 million. "The Zenith acquisition represents our most significant entry into the international market," said Mel Harris, president of Paramount's Television Group. "By aligning ourselves with the United Kingdom's major independent producer, we are positioning ourselves for the 1990s and 1992, when Europe's trade barriers fall."
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