SomosTV's VeneMovies Channel Taps Avail-TVN to Power New VOD Service

Avail-TVN--the company formed in July 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 the article published on itvt.com, July 15th)--announced last week that it has signed a long-term, industry-wide VOD services deal with SomosTV-owned VeneMovies, a 24-hour commercial-free Spanish-language channel that is targeted at the US Hispanic/Latino market and that launched back in 2006 (note: last month, Avail-TVN signed a similar deal with TuTv, a joint venture between Grupo Televisa and Univision Communications that provides Spanish-language programming to US cable and satellite customers--see the article published on itvt.com, August 25th). "With Latinos in the US spending approximately $19.7 billion on entertainment in 2008 and overall Latino purchasing power expected to hit $1 trillion by 2010, there is a great opportunity to serve the growing demand for quality Spanish-language entertainment," Jim Riley, Avail-TVN's chief revenue officer, said in a prepared statement. "Working with VeneMovies On Demand is an important step in building our Spanish-language content offering and delivering a rich and entertaining VOD experience for Latino audiences." Added SomosTV general manager, Alejandro Parisca: "We chose to work with Avail-TVN because of the company's broad reach into more than 47 million homes."

The Avail-TVN-powered VeneMovies On Demand service that has been launched as a result of the deal is offered free of charge and features such movies as "La Ley de Herodes," "Un Rey en la Habana," "Iluminados por el Fuego," and "Partes Usadas."