Portugal forms Dreamia team

Portuguese media groups Chello Multicanal and ZON Multimédia have formed a joint venture to produce, market and distribute a variety of channels in the country and in Portuguese-speaking Africa.

Dreamia is owned equally by the two parties and is launching a youth-skewing channel called Panda Biggs, targeting eight- to 14-years-olds.

The line-up will include animation, drama series and in-house productions based on music, sports and popular culture, plus international acquisitions such as Blue Dragon and Digimon Tamers.

Chello has operated the Panda kids channel in Portugal for more than a decade but the spin-off will allow the original to focus more closely on the 3-7 age group.

Dreamia will also take over responsibility for running two other channels: Chello’s movie network Hollywood, which spans kids, action, comedy and drama; and MOV, a movies and series channel produced by ZON. MOV will shift its emphasis towards a more male-skewing audience featuring sci-fi, horror and action.

Eduardo Zulueta, MD of Chello Multicanal, will be Dreamia’s chairman, and Antunes João, CEO of ZON Lusomundo Audiovisuais, will be CEO. João said the partnership would extend the choice and range of channels on offer.

Chello Multicanal will resell the channels on behalf of Dreamia in Portugal, and ZON will act as the reseller in Portuguese-speaking Africa for MOV, Hollywood, Panda and Panda Biggs.