Telefonica has announced plans to launch its Movistar Series channel throughout Latin America this year, part of its ambitious project to compete with the likes of Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime via its Movistar+ original content division. In a statement, the company said Movistar Series will premiere 12 original productions throughout 2018, as well as Spanish-speaking content produced by third parties in at least 12 Latin American countries. The series will be available to more than 3 million pay-TV homes throughout the region, with a potential additional footprint of over 110 million Movistar mobile clients also having access.
The Latin American rollout will be spearheaded by the company’s flagship original TV production, “La Peste”. The EUR 10 million six-part crime thriller set in a plague-ravaged 16th century Seville debuted on the Movistar+ pay-TV platform in Spain last month, with a second season already in the pipeline. The series and others will be included in basic Movistar TV and Movistar Play offer in the region.
The new channel will be available in Chile, Colombia, and Peru on 15 February and will be added to the Movistar offer in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay in the next few months.
In addition to its own original series, the channel will also broadcast Spanish-speaking content produced by third parties, successful Latin American series in different duration formats, as well as movies and documentaries. Each week Movistar Series will premiere new episodes from 9 series plus 5 movies, said the company.