NBCU Telemundo unveils scripted unit

MIPCOM: NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises (NBCUTE) is expanding its scripted ambitions with the launch of an international production unit dedicated to high-end miniseries.

Marcos Santana

Telemundo International Studios (TIS) will target broadcast, cable and digital media in international markets and builds on the group’s already successful longform scripted programming slate produced at Telemundo Studios, which feeds its US Hispanic net Telemundo.

The move follows the deal signed recently with Televisa to feed the Mexican broadcast giant’s fledgling streaming service Blim.

TIS will be based in Miami and headed by Marcos Santana, president of Telemundo International, who helped develop and launch it.

Santana said TIS’s launch would help increase the group’s “catalogue and distribution opportunities for markets and platforms that demand programming for a well-defined audience with established consumption habits.”

Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUTE, said TIS would be tapping “into an international growth opportunity at a time when Telemundo is delivering unprecedented ratings performance and has established itself as the number one Spanish-language broadcast network in primetime in the US.”

TIS will aim to collaborate with producers worldwide and hire top Hispanic talent, working with Telemundo Studios and its development committee.