HOLLYWOOD -- Sony Pictures Television Intl. is ramping up its fiction programming in Latin America with a telenovela co-production in Venezuela and a comedy skein for its pan-regional web, Sony Entertainment Television.

SPTI will co-produce "Si me miran tus ojos" (If You Look Into My Eyes) with Laura Visconti Prods. The 120-episode Latino soap will debut on Venevision early next year.

Meanwhile, SPTI is in pre-production for 22-one hour episodes of "Los caballeros las prefieren brutas" (Gentlemen Prefer Them Dumb), which it will co-produce with Colombia's Laberinto Prods. Skein is based on the eponymous novel by Isabella Santo Domingo.

"We are ramping up in volume, investments and hopefully in quality," says Brendan Fitzgerald, SPTI senior VP of international production.

He credits Marlon Quintero, SPTI development and production VP, for "weaning" the company off remaking its classic skeins for Latin America. SPTI has adapted old favorites including "The Jeffersons," "The Nanny" and "Who's the Boss."

"We made a commitment 18 to 24 months ago to produce more original programming in the region," Fitzgerald says.

SPTI produced its first telenovela for a Latino web in 2007, "Zorro: La espada y la rosa" (Zorro: The Spade and the Rose). Skein was co-produced with RTI Colombia for NBC U's Telemundo.

Early this year, SPTI co-produced "Dona Barbara" with Telemundo, where it has been topping the U.S. Hispanic web's primetime ratings since its Nov. 28 debut.

In March, SPTI co-produced "Los Simuladores" (The Pretenders), with Mexican media conglom Televisa. A remake of an Argentine hit series, it's now in its second season.

SPTI also paired with Nickelodeon Latin America to produce its first tween-targeted telenovela, "Isa TKM" (Isa, I Luv You) in Venezuela this year.

SPTI has also remade "Aqui no hay quien viva" (No One Can Live Here) with local webs in Colombia, Chile and Argentina. Other skeins are in the pipeline.