Televisa moves aggressively into the US following JV deal

Spanish language producer and distributor Televisa is aggressively shopping  scripted formats including La Que No Podia Amar (The One Who Couldn’t Love) to US broadcast networks after setting up US division Televisa USA.

This comes after the company, which is run by chief executive Paul Presburger and chief creative officer Michael Garcia, struck a joint venture deal with Lionsgate and comes as it looks to pitch up to eight television series in the forthcoming network pitching season.

Televisa USA is revamping the Jane Eyre-style novela La Que No Podia Amar, created by Delia Fiallo, following its Spanish language success on Univision. It is also pushing El Pantera (The Panther), a novela based on a comic book about a young man fighting crime.

This push comes after Devious Maids, the Marc Cherry-produced series, which is based on Televisa novela Ellas son la Alegría del Hogar, was picked up by Lifetime and follows the premiere of Hollywood Heights on Nickelodeon, which was based on Televisa’s Alcanzar una estrella.

The company also has Terminales set up at ABC Family.

Presburger previously worked at Lionsgate before setting up a joint venture feature film company between the Mad Men-producer and the Mexican media company, while Garcia was a former drama executive at premium cable network HBO.

“The US is right next door to Mexico and is the biggest TV market in the world,” said Presburger. “We want to go after the mainstream market.”