Telemundo Preps Online Premiere for New Series

MIAMI: U.S. Hispanic broadcaster Telemundo will premiere its new prime-time novela Las Aparicio online at the end of July ahead of its TV debut.

The 120 episode novela will launch on Telemundo.com later next month in a new HD broadband player developed by MSN, with English and Portuguese subtitles. No date has been announced yet for the broadcast debut. Online, viewers can access an ad-supported option, offering highlights, clips and social networking; or a pay-per-view option, where full episodes are available on demand for a monthly membership fee.

“The latest research shows there are close to 28 million Hispanics online in the U.S.,” said Peter Blacker, executive VP of digital media and emerging businesses at Telemundo. “Hispanics’ appetite for TV content online continues to grow at an incredible rate. Almost half of U.S. Hispanics online watch entire episodes of TV shows online versus only 28 percent of the general market. The launch of Las Aparicio is Telemundo’s latest programming innovation marrying our viewers’ fascination for digital TV content with cutting-edge technology. We are proud to be the first to bring this to market.”

The series tells the story of three generations of women whose only common denominator is that they are part of a family made up of widows.