WELCOME TO PLANET REEBOK: Universal Studios, FL, will open
Planet Reebok -- "a sports/entertainment/retail/ restaurant
complex" set to open in 1996 in Orlando. According to BRANDWEEK,
"The complex will match Reebok endorsers with Universal amusement
park technology." Reebok Senior VP of Integrated Marketing Dave
Ropes: "You might face a Roger Clemens fastball or shoot free
throws with Shaquille O'Neal" (BRANDWEEK, 2/13 issue).
SEGA HITS LONDON: Sega, the Japanese video game maker, has
chosen London as the site of "Europe's first virtual reality
theme park." The proposed indoor complex, set to open by Summer
'96, will be located in the Trocadero, a shopping and
entertainment center in Picadilly Circus. The 10,000 square
meter project will surpass Sega's other theme park, Joypolis in
Yokohama, Japan (FINANCIAL TIMES, 2/14). ABC'S OF
INTERACTIVITY: USA TODAY's Kevin Maney reports that Cap
Cities/ABC "no longer wants to be defined as a broadcaster, even
though the driving force of the company today is the ABC
broadcast network. Cap Cities/ABC wants to be a software
company, creating the entertainment and information -- the
'software' -- that will run on any and every technology out
there." Some deals Cap Cities/ABC has entered: A $100M
investment in the Spielberg/Geffen/ Katzenberg DreamWorks
venture; partnership with video game maker Electronic Arts on
multimedia software; a joint investment with EA in Sports Lab, a
S.F.-based company developing "virtual reality sports rides";
development of on-line searchable programming; and ABC Online, an
area found on America Online (USA TODAY, 2/14).
