Duo ready local 'Rebelde' for Brazil

TV Record, Televisa to co-produce telenovela

By MARCELO CAJUEIRO

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian net TV Record and Mexico's giant Televisa are gearing up to co-produce a Portuguese-language version of a Televisa telenovela to air next year in Brazil.

The telenovela is expected to be a local version of Televisa's teen pop band hit "Rebelde," which itself was a remake of Argentina's "Rebelde Way."

The nets are negotiating the terms of the co-production, the first in a five-year deal the companies inked at the end of August.

The telenovelas will be made in RecNov, TV Record's production center in Rio.

Televisa will supply the script that will be translated into Portuguese and adapted to the local taste. Televisa will cover the production costs, and share the telenovela's revenues in Brazil.

The companies also will co-produce Spanish-language versions of TV Record telenovelas for auds in Mexico. "Escrava Isaura" is the likely first adaptation in Mexico, but the companies did not set a timetable for the production.

According to a TV Record insider, Televisa is expected to invest $10 million in each 200-episode telenovela.

For the past six years, Televisa has co-produced with TV Record's Brazilian competitor SBT under a deal that expired this year.

The Televisa-TV Record pact is broader as Televisa will invest in Brazilian production, which it did not do under the SBT deal.

TV Record will air the new telenovela at 7 p.m., targeting young viewers. The net currently produces and airs telenovelas at 9 and 10 p.m.

TV Record has invested $280 million in content since 2004, the bulk of it in the production of telenovelas, local auds' favorite genre. That has helped it pass SBT to become the second most-watched channel in Brazil.