Telefonica, Atresmedia unveil joint content production studio Buendia

Telefonica and commercial broadcaster Atresmedia have announced the official launch of their joint project to create and produce Spanish language content for distribution around the world after receiving the approval of European Commission antitrust authorities. The 50-50 joint venture will be called Buendia Estudios and will be run by Atresmedia general director Ignacio Corrales. It will be above all aimed at boosting each company’s ability to promote Spanish and Latin American talent throughout the world, producing premium content for third parties and creating partnerships and co-productions with other companies in the sector.

The launch comes after the partners signed a preliminary agreement to jointly produce fiction content last September. In a joint statement they said “Buendia Estudios will have the necessary infrastructure for recurring content production, creating a stable business environment for the development and creation of audiovisual projects,” adding that the new company’s will team of professionals has already been responsible for fiction, film and entertainment projects for the likes of Movistar+, Atresmedia, Amazon, Netflix, Warner (HBO, TNT and HBO Max), Orange TV as well as Spain’s regional channels.

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 Atresmedia’s hit series La Casa de Papel ("Money Heist"), the most-watched non-English-language show in the history of Netflix. Other successful international series produced by Atresmedia include “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet" and “Locked Up”.

Movistar+ last year recently released its first original film, a Spanish Civil War  drama called “Mientras dure la guerra” (“While at War”) by Academy award-winning director Alejandro Amenabar.