In an effort to help pump up digital penetration in Spanish-language households, TuTV is providing a suite of 100 classics of Mexican cinema for distribution on its affiliates’ video-on-demand platforms.
The movies hail from the “golden era” of cine Mexicano -- the World War II years, when American and European filmmaking was moribund -- according to TuTV president Chris Fager.
The films feature icons of the era such as Dolores del Rio, Lucha Villa and Pedro Armendariz, plus stars who are currently noted for their work in popular telenovelas, including Humberto Zurita, Claudia Ramirez and Joaquin Cordero.
A joint partnership of Grupo Televisa and Univision Communications, TuTV launched in 2003 and counts operators including Cox Communications and Charter Communications among its affiliates. It currently distributes movie, music and general-entertainment channels De Pelicula, De Pelicula Classico, Telehit, Ritmason Latino and Bandamax, which are simulcast in Mexico and the United States.
To support the VOD initiative, TuTV developed a selection of off-the-shelf promotions to build market awareness for its VOD push, as well as its digital channels.
The VOD content will be offered free-of-charge to consumers -- “for the moment,” Fager said, adding that the company would like to see usage numbers before plotting a long-term strategy.
For more on TuTV’s VOD initiative, please see Linda Haugsted’s story on page 15 of Monday’s issue of Multichannel News.
