PRISA Targets U.S Market

MADRID/NEW YORK: Spain’s PRISA, whose assets include Cuatro, Digital+ and Portugal’s TVI, has acquired a 12-percent stake in U.S. Hispanic broadcaster V-me, with a view to taking majority control within the next 12 months.

The 24-hour digital-broadcast service, presented by affiliate public TV stations and carried on cable and satellite, is ranked as the fastest-growing U.S. Hispanic network and comes in behind Univision and Telemundo in national household distribution, according to PRISA. V-me is currently available in over 70 percent of all Hispanic homes and is set to reach 80 percent by year-end. In addition to its cash investment, PRISA will contribute content and production resources to V-me.

"This investment represents an aggressive U.S. step forward in PRISA’s consumer-centric global strategy of delivering relevant content through multiplatform distribution to the entire Portuguese and Spanish speaking world," said Juan Luis Cebrian, the CEO of PRISA. "PRISA has extensively analyzed many U.S. opportunities, but only V-me represents deep expertise in the U.S. market, an existing national distribution platform, high-quality content for a desirable audience, and roots in education and respect for consumers that are key to PRISA’s mission. V-me’s relationship with public television is a clear example of this unmatched credibility and quality."

"PRISA is a perfect partner for V-me," added Carmen M. DiRienzo, the president and CEO of V-me. "PRISA’s world-class content and production resources combined with V-me’s creative development and distribution present powerful opportunities to develop new programs and channels for domestic and international markets, and to expand and develop brands across PRISA’s radio, publishing and broadcast assets."

The original shareholders of V-me—Syncom Venture Partners, The Baeza Group and WNET’s Educational Broadcasting Corporation—will continue to be represented on the board. PRISA’s investment will result in additional board seats.