2 Hispanic sales firms to join forces

By PETER BESAS

Two of the major Hispanic TV sales companies are expected to join operations starting Jan. 1. The new banner, tentatively called Proventel, melds domestic and offshore sales of Protele, the Televisa subsid, and Venevision, the Venezuelan web.

The move was expected since the FCC approved the sale of U.S. Hispanic web Univision and 13 Hispanic stations in the U.S. to A. Jerrold Perenchio on Sept. 30. Televisa and Venevision each hold 25% in the Univision network and 12.5% each of the stations.

In Cannes, Protele topper Marcel Vinay told Variety that the new sales banner would operate out of the present Protele offices in L.A., with himself in charge. Protele will own 60% of Proventel and Venevision 40%.

Venevision sales chief Carlos Barba said that his assignment in Venevision (or perhaps Univision) had not been decided. Barba is based in Miami at Venevision's offshore sales operations.

Vinay added that plans are to increase production of novellas, which are the backbone of both Televisa and Venevision sales. Televisa already produces four novellas per day, and Venevision is taping three per day in Caracas. There is no plan to change the format or contents of the novellas, and Mexico and Caracas will each continue to produce autonomously.

Vinay said that several Venevision salespeople would probably be shifted to the Protele office in L.A. Protele racks up sales of about $ 40 million and Venevision $ 16 million per year.

As part of Televisa's move to edge back into international TV, earlier this year it bought 49% of Channel 4 -- Megavision -- in Santiago, Chile, and later 76% of the Empresa Peruana de Radiodifusion in Lima, Peru.

The Univision purchase is being challenged legally in the states by the National Hispanic Media Coalition (Daily Variety, Oct. 1). The 30-day waiting period is up at the end of October. Barba said the contract to merge Protele and Venevision sales operations will probably be signed around Nov. 4 or 5.

He added that Venevision was increasing its roster of co-productions abroad. First to roll, on Nov. 15, is a novella to be made with Spain's Antena 3, called "Primer Amor" (First Love), with 160-200 segs planned. At Mipcom, Barba also inked a deal with Paul Talbot/Freemantle for Venevision to rep all of Freemantle's gameshows for the Hispanic market in Latin America and the U.S., which will enable Venevision to license Spanish versions of such shows as "The Dating Game" and "The Price Is Right."