Montreal: Astral Communications is bringing its considerable assets in programming, financing and distribution to the world of interactive multimedia with the establishment of a new company, Astral Multimedia.

Based in Boca Raton, Florida, the company is headed by William "Bud" Gillan, a senior developer/ producer who joins Astral after 11 years with ibm. Astral Multimedia is a unit of the Astral Entertainment Group, headed by president Sydney Greenberg.

Astral chairman and ceo Harold Greenberg says Astral brings a number of assets to the table as it enters the new fast-growth interactive sector, including experience in creating hundreds of millions of dollars worth of broadcast and home video programs in the past 15 years; a distribution network of 10,000 retail outlets following the establishment of A/B Interactive, a joint venture with Beamscope Canada; and, on the technical side, the ability to manufacture cd format and cd-rom discs in its new $20 million replication facility in Boca Raton.

Astral and Gillan are meeting with multimedia developers across North America to discuss joint ventures, and Greenberg says Astral is evaluating acquisition possibilities. The profile of these new multimedia development companies - in Canada six have 30 or more employees - is rising quickly, Greenberg says. "They are coming out of the woodwork" looking for program sources, cash financing, distribution networks and manufacturing capability.

"Through ibm, (Gillan) has been involved with hundreds of developers in the u.s., as well as in Canada, and has the ability to co-ordinate this work," says Greenberg.

Astral Multimedia's game plan covers the entire range of multimedia activity, from concept and development, to production, manufacturing and international distribution.

All new Astral-backed programming will be evaluated for interactive suitability, with extra shooting requirements for multimedia exploitation factored into the budget. In animation terms, this could entail additional production costs of 25%, Greenberg says.

"We are looking at our library and considering using our programming base and redoing it for interactive distribution," he adds.

In the next two or three weeks, Astral will complete production on a trilingual pilot cd-rom promo, says Greenberg. He adds Astral is now in the process of creating programs and games which will be distributed to both multimedia and traditional broadcast markets.

Astral reported revenues of $355 million for fiscal 1993/94. The broadcast division, headed by president and ceo Andre Bureau, accounted for $95 million in revenues, while the entertainment division, headed by president Sydney Greenberg, reported revenues of $210 million. The two groups accounted for nearly all of Astral's profits for the period.

In the next 12 months, the game plan is to ensure Astral Multimedia heads in the right direction, through agreements with developers and the acquisition of suitable product licences, in preparation for new product launches.