Avail-TVN in Spanish-Language VOD Movies Deal with TuTv

Avail-TVN--the company formed last month from the merger of VOD distribution services provider, TVN Entertainment, and Avail Media, a provider of managed content-aggregation services for smaller IPTV operators (see article published on itvt.com, July 15th)--said Tuesday that it has secured an industry-wide VOD services deal with existing customer, TuTv, a joint venture between Grupo Televisa and Univision Communications that provides Spanish-language programming to US cable and satellite customers. The deal covers movies from TuTv's linear channels, De Pelicula and De Pelicula Clasico, which offer contemporary and classic movies respectively.

According to Avail-TVN, the deal "comes at an opportune time," since TuTv's VOD usage for its affiliates continues to rise. From June, 2008 to December, 2008, Avail-TVN says, TuTv experienced a 100% increase in VOD orders and it expects that trend to continue through summer, 2009. In order to respond to this rising demand, TuTv has increased its offering from five to 10 movies per month, which Avail-TVN says will be available at all times to TuTv's affiliates. "We're delighted to continue our relationship with TuTv, and to support our mutual affiliates in delivering a rich and entertaining VOD experience to Latino audiences," Matt Cohen Avail-TVN's SVP of strategy and business development, said in a prepared statement. "Avail-TVN's platform enables TuTv to efficiently and cost-effectively reach the broadest audience and meet the growing demand for Spanish-Language VOD content."

According to Avail-TVN, TuTv's VOD movie package features a wide variety of genres, including comedy, drama, romance, scifi, western, adventure and action films. The movies star such contemporary actors as Veronica Castro, Eric del Castillo and Beatriz Adriana, and "golden era icons" such as Dolores del Rio, Sara Garcia and Pedro Armendariz, the company says.