Cannes – One of the world’s largest producers of Spanish language programming, Azteca, and pay TV broadcaster and producer Astro have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the production and distribution of telenovelas. The MoU has three parties, Azteca, Astro and Global Station, a Malaysian production house behind some of the most successful drama series in Malaysia. This is a milestone marking a long-term partnership relying on the strengths of the respective parties in which Astro and Global Station will co-produce Azteca telenovela formats adapted for the Malaysian and regional audiences. Azteca will manage the international distribution of the produced telenovelas.

This is not a first time collaboration for the parties. Astro has worked with Azteca on the format Akademi Fantasia (La Academia Azteca) and also on the Astro Bella Channel, a destination for telenovelas packaged by Astro. Global has produced for Astro several very successful drama series and has also adapted Azteca telenovela formats in the past.

Commenting on the MoU, Marcel Vinay, Vice President of International Sales at Azteca said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Astro; their production expertise and track record speaks for itself. This agreement fortifies our friendship with Astro and at the same time focuses on our commitment to delivering quality programming to worldwide audiences.”

Agnes Rozario, Vice President of Content Group at Astro said: “Both Azteca and Global have been great partners to work with in the past and we believe this arrangement strengthens our content line-up and our customer proposition. With Astro’s consumer and marketing know-how, Global’s production expertise and Azteca’s distribution strengths, we are confident that these adapted telenovelas will meet the increasing demand for localised content from the multi-cultural and diverse people of this region as well as be able to travel beyond Malaysia to delight audiences around the world.”