Cisneros Media (CMD), also known as Venevision International (VVI), is an American-based entertainment company that broadcasts Spanish-language television worldwide.
History
Venevision International is part of the Cisneros Group of Companies. It was founded initially as the distribution company.[2]
CMD is currently headed by Peter Tinoco. The company opened its doors in 1969 under the name Teverama Florida, along with Radio Caracas Television as distributors of Venezuelan programming abroad. After a split from RCTV (which formed Coral Pictures), it was renamed America Television Inc. In 1987, the company took the current name of Venevision International.
VVI is one of the two largest companies that distributes Spanish-language television programming.[3] The company has a diverse programming catalogue, with an emphasis on the telenovela genre.[4]
In 1992, as part of a consortium of American businessman Jerry Perenchio, Mexican entrepreneur Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, and Grupo Cisneros through Venevisión International bought Univision for $500 million. Grupo Cisneros held a 25% stake in Univision and 12.5% stake in the Univision Communications (now TelevisaUnivision). The Grupo Cisneros' ownership stake in Univision led to the broadcast of Venevision telenovelas from Venezuela, and to the co-production of telenovelas by the partnership of Venevision International and Univision Communications. The consortium ended up selling Univision for $13.7 billion in 2007.[5]
VVI presently supports exchange agreements and sales of TV programming in China and South Korea, where telenovelas are popular. Beginning in 2000, the company sought to diversify its catalogue with original productions, and to participate in the profitable Hispanic market in the United States.
In television production, CMD was a pioneer in independent television production in Spanish in the city of Miami and one of the main companies of this segment in the industry.[6]
CMD founded the first exclusive, Spanish-language film distribution company in the United States. It released movies in cinemas and on pay-per-view, pay television, home video, the hospitality industry (hotels and tourism) and the Internet. It has participated in a renewed interest in Latin American cinema in the US market.[7]
As part of the Cisneros Group of Companies, the company has been launched TV channels.[8] Based on its film catalogue in Spanish, the company launched its pay TV movie channel "VeneMovies" in 2006: a channel that programs films 24 hours a day, along with interviews and coverage of major festivals targeted towards the United States' Hispanic market.
VVI runs Latcel, a mobile content production and distribution company in the U.S. Hispanic market. It also runs VeneMobile, a division that offers content from the Cisneros Group of Companies in the mobile markets.[9]
CMD has also participated with the Spanish company Nostromo in television programming[10] and in the production of theater plays in the city of Miami where it owned a theatre from 2001 through 2005.
On October 28, 2013, the Grupo Cisneros relaunched the Venevisión International brand with the name Cisneros Media, as part of a restructuring of the Grupo Cisneros. Cisneros Media is a division that controls entertainment services:
Venevisión: Venezuela's leading television network.
Miss Venezuela Organization: production platform aimed at the female audience.
Cisneros Media Distribution - Global distributor of entertainment content.
Venevisión International Productions and Cisneros Studios – independent producer of Venevisión's Spanish-language programming in the United States and for Venevisión.
In 2016, the company represented Boat Rocker Media titles in Latin America.
Cisneros Media Distribution companies
Production and distribution logo
Venevision International TV Distribution
Venevisión International is one of the largest television programming distribution companies in Latin America. The catalogue includes popular genres from Venezuela, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. It features films from Hollywood, Spain, and Latin America. Genres include telenovelas, musicals, comedies, game shows, talk shows, children's programming and documentaries.
Venevision International Pay TV
VVI Pay TV develops Spanish-language channels for cable and Satellite television broadcasts. The ViendoMovies channel division offers contemporary movies in Spanish in the United States.
Venevision International Film Distribution
The film division of VVI distributes and markets Spanish-language films through pay-per-view, video-on-demand, Internet broadband, hotel and airline systems, and DVDs. This division also publishes compilations of soap operas and other television programs on DVD.
Venevision International Productions
The programming producer for Venevisión International generates productions of various genres. Its facilities are located in Miami and with regional associates. The company also develops programs for television shows.
Venevision International Publishing
Venevisión International Publishing protects and manages the intellectual property rights of music and productions of the Cisneros Organization.
