Cosme Lopez Moves Up at Cisneros Media

MIAMI: Cisneros Media has elevated Cosme Lopez to senior VP and general manager of pay-TV channels and services, effective immediately.

Lopez will work out of Miami under Marcello Coltro, the executive VP of content distribution at Cisneros Media. His new executive duties include supervising the company's pay-TV multiplatform business and managing the telenovela-exclusive OTT channel Romanza+Africa, which is a collaboration between Azteca and XP Africa.

In 2000, Lopez joined Cisneros as general manager of Venevision Continental, a cable channel that expanded into a business unit. He helped to develop and establish a number of the company's pay-TV services and channels, including Venevision Plus, VmasTV and VePlusTV (previously Venevision Continental), first in Venezuela, and then in the rest of LatAm and the Caribbean.

Earlier in his career, Lopez was the production and post-production operations manager at HBO Latin America. Before that, he worked for Venevision International from 1993 to 1997.

"Cosme has done a remarkable job managing the daily operations and distribution of our linear channels, joint ventures and pay-TV services throughout Latin America," noted Coltro. "I look forward to working with Cosme in his new position to optimize the company's resources by identifying opportunities for the strategic development of businesses that maximize the potential of Cisneros Media's high-quality content through traditional and emerging distribution platforms to deliver compelling entertainment-viewing experiences throughout the world."

Jonathan Blum, the president of Cisneros Media, added: "Cosme was key in the development of the company's cable unit. By establishing a solid infrastructure, Cosme provided Venevision Continental total autonomy, enabling the pay-TV division to grow independently and thus foster its migration into new markets and territories, as well as enabling its progression into digital formats and multiplatform distribution. I'm confident that with Cosme's leadership, globalization is only a matter of time."