The U.S. media industry hasn't had much success with their efforts in penetrating the Chinese market. There have been restricions on where TV channels can be broadcast, and in one case an effort to build a chain of theaters failed.
That isn't stopping Viacom's (VIA-B) Executive chairman Sumner Redstone from trying to do it. His newest effort is in trying to find a way to develop theme parks in a couple of regions in China, Shanghai, and Changsha. which may also include co-production partnerships in movie projects.
"Very recently a delegation came from Changsha to discuss the possibilities of a theme park and (movies) co-production," Redstone told reporters.
The deal is based on an existing deal he has with a theme park in South Korea, where Viacom licenses its products and financing is mostly done on a local level. That park is scheduled to open in 2009.
Redstone said the current projects are in a very preliminary stage of talks.
His latest try at buying into a Chinese company, Shanghai Media, failed, as Chinese regulators blocked the deal right before it was going to close.
Viacom does do some business with China, as it has a joint venture with Shanghai Media for children's programming and has a MTV station telecast in Mandarin that targets the affluent Guangdong province, which is also the only location foreign media companies are allowed to broadcast in.
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