On Wednesday 17 June, the European Commission approved the creation of Buendía Estudios. The objective of this new company, the result of an agreement reached between Telefónica and Atresmedia (both groups will hold a 50% share), will be the production of audiovisual content in the Spanish language for the whole world, marking an unprecedented strategic alliance within the audiovisual industry in Spain. The new firm will focus its activities on national and international operators, helping to stimulate and strengthen the Spanish audiovisual sector, its talent and the industrial fabric of independent production in the country, promoting associations and co-productions with other companies in the sector.

The new entity will be able to count on the requisite infrastructure for producing content, thus generating a stable business environment suitable for the development and creation of audiovisual projects. It will boast a team of professionals with a wealth of experience in developing and producing fiction, film and entertainment projects for the market, given that it has partnered with companies such as Movistar Plus+, Atresmedia, Amazon, Netflix, Warner - HBO, TNT, Orange and the channels operating in Spain’s autonomous regions.

By founding this company, Telefónica and Atresmedia are pooling resources to optimise and upscale their business of content creation in a market that is becoming increasingly global. Among its strategic objectives, this new studio has been created with the aim of competing in the Spanish and Latin American markets, as well as the Hispanic one in the USA. It therefore caps off a strong alliance between two of the model powerhouses in Spanish fiction.

Atresmedia has for years been a widely recognised brand in the markets and among national and international viewers. It has been creating extremely successful content that has been popular among audiences in different countries, and garnering some of the most prestigious global accolades, such as the Emmy Awards. It has staged series such as Money Heist, Vis a Vis, The Time in Between, Velvet, Grand Hotel, The Boarding School and El secreto de Puente Viejo. It has also been behind a number of hit features, produced by its subsidiary Atresmedia Cine, such as Marshland [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alberto Rodríguez
fiche film], The Invisible Guest [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], The Realm [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rodrigo Sorogoyen
interview : Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel …
fiche film], Mirage [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] and Palm Trees in the Snow [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film], which just goes to show its incredible brand value in Spanish-language fiction all around the globe. In addition, in 2019, Klaus [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] snagged the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for the Oscars and the Goyas; Father There Is Only One [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] was the biggest box-office smash of the year; and its sequel, Padre no hay más que uno 2: La llegada de la suegra [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], is due to be released soon (7 August).

For its part, Telefónica, through Movistar Plus+, has taken original Spanish fiction production to the next level with a very different and bold proposition: by investing in series that revel in their own particular hallmarks. It’s a model that stems from an auteur-driven vision and sees the launch of 12 projects per year: some examples are the two seasons of The Plague [+lire aussi :
interview : Alberto Rodríguez et Rafae…
fiche série] by Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos (see the news), Spanish Shame [+lire aussi :
interview : Juan Cavestany
fiche série] by Juan Cavestany and Álvaro Fernández Armero, Arde Madrid by Paco León and Perfect Life [+lire aussi :
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fiche série] by Leticia Dolera (see the news). It has also worked on co-produced projects, such as Hierro [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jorge Coira
interview : Olivier Wotling
fiche série], En el corredor de la muerte and The Pier, as well as its first original film, While at War [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alejandro Amenabar
fiche film] by Alejandro Amenábar. With this alliance, Telefónica thus strengthens its position as a real driving force behind original fictional content, and extends its already broad, multiplatform reach, allowing it to better position its original Spanish-language productions in the global market.