Telefonica has reached a preliminary agreement with commercial broadcaster Atresmedia to set up a video production company that intends to create Spanish language content for distribution around the world in a bid to compete with streaming giants such as Netflix, HBO and Disney. The 50-50 joint venture, which has yet to be approved by Telefonica’s Executive Committee, is designed to unite talent and resources "to optimise and scale up content creation and distribution in order to compete with major international players", said the partners in a statement. It will also seek to boost the Spanish audiovisual sector by promoting co-productions with other companies and creating titles for third parties, they added.
Telefonica’s pay-TV unit Movistar+ and Atresmedia Studios previously teamed up to produce the original fiction series El Embarcadero ("The Pier”), a drama created by Alex Pina, showrunner for the hit series La Casa de Papel ("Money Heist"), the most-watched non-English-language show in the history of Netflix.
News of the deal comes comes just a week before Movistar+ releases its first original film, a drama called “Mientras dure la guerra” focusing on the elderly writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno during the first months of the Spanish Civil War by Academy award winning director Alejandro Amenabar.
