CANNES – Signaling one of the macro Latino deals at this year’s Mipcom trade fair, Telemundo Internacional and HBO Latin America Originals have inked an exclusive distribution deal giving Telemundo world sales rights outside the Americas -. North, Central, South – on HBO Latin America productions.
Deal involves the second biggest Spanish-language distributor in the world, and HBO Latin America, a company on the cutting edge of upscale Spanish-language TV production. It kicks in Jan. 2016 with period psychological drama “El Hipnotizador,” starring Leonardo Sbaraglio in the title role, and HBO Latin America’s first bilingual Spanish-Portuguese series.
Also on early next year’s slate of HBO Latin American Originals from Brazilian film/TV giant Conspiraçao, “Magnifica 70,” about a state censor involved with a sex film actress, directed by Claudio Torres, who scored a huge hit with “The Invisible Woman; now heading towards its third season, “El negocio,” another Brazilian series, from Mixer Producciones, about three women who decide to apply modern marketing methods to the oldest profession in the world; quirky psychoanalyst dramedy “Psi,” also from Brazil.
Deal accelerates significantly Telemundo Internacional’s move into premium content, and HBO Latin America’s desire to capitalize on latent international audiences for its dramas.
“Our goal has always been to expand through the sale of the very highest quality products and through unique formats inspired by real life — content born out of the imagination of writers and creatives whose work goes above and beyond traditional standards,” said Telemundo Internacional president Marcos Santana.
HBO Latin America began making documentaries and some mini-series, soon began to target productions for local markets in Latin America, then explored crossover broadcast in other Latin American countries and would now likes its series to travel throughout the world,” Emilio Rubio, CEO of HBO Latin America, said at Monday Mipcom presentation of the HBO-Telemundo Internacional deal.
Per Santana, there are about 70 million Latinos – a population far bigger than the U.K.’s – living outside the Americas, which follow Latinos products on multiple platforms. There are other markets, such as in Eastern Europe, which are demanding higher-quality TV fiction.
As Rubio reflected Monday at Mipcom, the agreement builds on two past strategic accords, a first in June 2014, when HBO Latin America Group (HBO LAG) become the exclusive affiliate sales representative for the Telemundo Internacional channel throughout most of Latin America. In July 2015, HBO LAG became responsible for the distribution of the NBCUniversal International in Spanish-speaking Latin America.
