Act III Communications is a diversified media and entertainment company owned by TV producer Norman Lear. It was started in 1985 following Lear's sale of Embassy Communications to The Coca-Cola Company. In a Wall St. Journal interview in 1988, Lear explained the name by noting that in a Shakespeare play there are always more than three acts and that he expects there to be an Act IV and V. Act III is Lear's business vehicle and is unconnected to his other activities as a political activist and philanthropist.