Robert Rodriguez cable net partners with Mark Burnett

Robert Rodriguez’s fledgling cable network El Rey has ordered a raft of new, original content and is partnering with Mark Burnett on a new sports division.

The English-language cable net has ordered Matador (WT), a 13x1hr drama about the rise of playboy soccer star come CIA agent Antonio ‘Matador’ Bravo.

It will be produced by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman’s K/O Paper Productions. It is the Univision-backed channel’s second original series after the already announced From Dusk till Dawn: The Series.

Other new content from El Rey include a weekly lucha libre Mexican wrestling series. The weekly one-hour show will come from a new sports content business run as a joint venture between El Rey and Burnett’s One Three Media. The Lucha Libre AAA wrestling league and Alex Garcia’s AG Studios are also on production duty.

El Rey has also ordered several specials looking at various youth subcultures. Duck Dynasty producers Gurney and the Mexican division of hipster prodco and youth brand Vice Media will produce.

“We are excited to be working with El Rey Network, Vice and Robert Rodriguez to showcase a previously hidden America,” said Scott Gurney, Gurney Productions.