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Telenovelas arrive in Rwanda

A newly-established free-to-air broadcaster in Africa has acquired two telenovelas from Telemundo Internacional, the distribution arm of the Spanish-language network.

The Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) has picked up Cuerpo Del Deseo (Second Chance, 143×60′) and La Tormenta (The Storm, 130×60′), both of which will air later this year.

Cuerpo Del Deseo, produced by Telemundo, tells the story of a millionaire, who at 67 years of age finds the love of a younger woman.

The hit series, which originally aired on Telemundo in 2005, has sold to more than 100 countries globally including African territories Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Namibia.

RTI Columbia-produced La Tormenta, which tells the story of a city woman forced to move out to her family’s estate in the country, has also found success in Africa since it first aired in 2005.

“These were the original two titles that we opened the African market with back in 2006,” Karina Etchison, Telemundo Internacional’s senior VP of sales, told C21.

RBA was formed earlier this year after the government-run Rwanda Bureau of Information and Broadcasting (Orinfor) was disbanded.

In August, the NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo launched in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa and split into two language feeds, a move that “increased appetite for telenovelas in those regions,” Etchison added.

The channel is fully localised for the African market with full dubbing of Spanish-language programming into English for South Africa and sub-Saharan countries, and full dubbing in Portuguese for Angola and Mozambique.

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