CARLTON & MEDIA PRO LAUNCH JOINT VENTURE

CARLTON Communications, UK commercial broadcasters, and Media Pro, one of Spain’s premier independent production companies, have announced a joint venture called MediaCarlton to make Spanish dramas and soaps.
MediaCarlton, which will be based in Barcelona, is a 50:50 joint venture. Carlton and Media Pro will share in the funding and profits of the business. They will produce and develop dramas to meet the growing demand for domestic productions in Spain and on Spanish language channels worldwide.
Steve Hewlett, Managing Director of Carlton Productions, said: “This is a powerful partnership. Carlton has writing, production and international sales expertise, while Media Pro brings an in depth knowledge of the Spanish language television markets. Together we can create and market compelling content in Europe and internationally.”
Carlton’s strategy is to develop content for worldwide audiences in partnership with local production companies. Carlton have worked with over 50 independent producers around the world in the last year to develop television programmes and broadcast in Europe, America and Australia.
Jaume Roures, Managing Director of Media Pro, said: “This alliance will dramatically extend Media Pro’s reach in the television programming market. Carlton have a track record of successfully developing popular dramas. Coupled with our expertise in the Spanish market, we can produce and sell mass audience dramas for the 400 million Hispanic speakers worldwide.”
Through their subsidiaries, Media Pro produces Spanish films, documentaries and soaps. They have a number of thematic channels, such as Canal Canarias, which promotes the Canary Islands, and produces the travel channel GeoPlaneta for the audiovisual division of the Planeta Group.
(CD)