Atresmedia: Atrescine available from March 1

Atrescine, fourth channel of the Atresmedia Internacional portfolio, will start operations in March 2018.

“We are going to broadcast for North America, as well as for the rest of Spanish-speaking America. The agreement with Video Mercury, that is the large distributor of Spanish cinema, allows us access to a catalog with over 7 thousand titles. It is a live catalog since they are always buying new ones. I think we are going to be able to make a great channel that appeals to the viewer. Atresmedia also has a film production company that will contribute more recent titles, and great classics,” expressed Mar Martínez, director of Atresmedia Internacional.

María José Revaldería, general manager of MIS Películas/Video Mercury, explained they started with the channel MIS Películas and needed to take the next natural step: to grow and launch in HD, which is what both the US and the Latin American markets are demanding. “Collaboration with Atresmedia will be essential to kick-start the channel into becoming one of the landmarks of Spanish cinema globally,” she added.

Atrescine will have programming blocks according to categories, such as La Filmoteca, Grandes Directores, Cinema Pop, and musicals, among others. “It is a channel that is going to be made with 600 films and that will renew continuously. We are programming film cycles in which there is a different film each day so viewers don´t have the feeling that there is repetition, as in thematic film channels,” clarifies Revaldería.

Martínez added that the signal would be appealing to OTT platforms because they will not only have the linear channel, “but all that catch-up and VOD content that is what viewers want right now,” she ended.