AETN makes LA Screenings debut

The program sales arm of AETN is heading to the LA Screenings for the first time as the company attempts to reach out to Latin American buyers. Having installed a dedicated head of sales for Latin America, Mayra Bracer, it will be pushing its factual and fact-ent series from a suite in the Century Plaza hotel.

“People from our networks have gone to the LA Screenings in the past to acquire, but we’ve not proactively gone there as a seller of content,” explains AETN’s VP, programming and production, Michael Katz. “We’ve been very active at MIP, MIPCOM and Discop, but historically less active at the Screenings. We decided that in looking at the Latin American market, at how channels and programming are performing, that it was time to make a concerted effort to make sure the Latin American buyers understood what we have to offer.”

Bracer says this year is an important one at the screening as many Latin buyers did not make the trip to France for MIP TV. “There are a lot of people that won’t have been at MIP and it’s important that we gear up our efforts this year,” she explains. “We want to speak to the big players, but we are also targeting state broadcasters and cultural channels.”

AETN will be pushing the big titles it launched at MIP TV, 102 Minutes that Changed the World and Steven Seagal: Lawman. Other titles include CGI-heavy factual series Life After People and dinosaur series Jurassic Fight Club.

AETN has an LA office where the A&E drama programming group is based alongside an ad sales and affiliate sales team.