• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 20, 2007

Since a slew of its top executives are TV veterans, Six Flags is moving into the business. The theme park operator has acquired 40% of Dick Clark Productions, which is a co-producer of Fox hit "So You Think You Can Dance" and several prominent awards shows. But it will retain effective control, since the remaining interest will be owned by a venture-capital group run by two Six Flags directors.

The group is RedZone Capital, and the Six Flags directors are Daniel Snyder, also its chairman, and Dwight Schar. The purchase price divided between the two acquirers is $175 million.

DCPI (previously owned by a venture operation and founded decades ago by Clark) will have its own management, even as it's linked in with Six Flags.

Former ESPN executive and now Six Flags President-CEO Mark Shapiro said: "Over the last year and a half, we have been working to transform Six Flags into an ideal experience and destination for unparalleled family entertainment. This transaction is another step in that evolution."

Six Flags is following a Disney model, in part, in which established TV brands and characters play a role in park attractions. Six Flags said it could operate "So You Think You Can Dance" events and benefit from other tie-ins with DCPI content to boost park attendance. (Separately, Six Flags has a licensing agreement in which it can weave characters such as Bugs Bunny and Batman and Robin into its park operations.)

But it's now in the TV production business.

Dick Clark Productions produces the Golden Globe Awards on NBC and the American Music Awards on ABC, among other network events. There is also the renowned "New Year's Rockin' Eve." DCPI also has a library, headlined by "American Bandstand."

Since Snyder lured Shapiro, who brought other ex-ESPN executives to Six Flags, observers have speculated that the theme park operator would use their expertise to connect with TV operations. Shapiro said that "we can grow our core business and stretch the definition of Six Flags into other areas of consumer entertainment."

Snyder will serve as DCPI chairman, while Shapiro and Michael Antinoro, Six Flags executive vice president, entertainment and marketing, will join its board. Terry Bateman, formerly with the Synder-owned NFL Washington Redskins, will serve as CEO.

DCPI also has a deal with Creative Artists Agency in which the talent agency looks for new business opportunities.