Movistar Plus is marking the beginning of Alfonso Gómez Palacio’s tenure as CEO with a restructuring of its operations, because the main Spanish pay TV/SVOD platform launches a brand new content material and sports activities framework.
Gómez Palacio succeeded Daniel Domenjó, who left the publish in April after simply over a yr as CEO of Movistar Plus. His appointment counsel a shift in government profile, from Domenjó, a TV producer and former Satisfaction Iberia and Mediacrest government, to a long-serving Telefónica operator with deep expertise in Latin America and company administration.
The restructuring comes as Movistar Plus has helped Spain rating a historic first of three Palme d’Or contenders in major Cannes competitors. The pay TV/SVOD service co-produced or put down a considerable pre-buy on all three Spanish titles: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved” (“El ser querido”), starring Javier Bardem; Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s “La bola negra,” with Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” (“Amarga Navidad”).
Movistar Plus additionally stated it added 86,000 web clients within the first quarter, taking its paying subscriber base to three.9 million.
For Spain’s movie business, that Cannes footprint carries industrial weight. Movistar Plus has change into one of many nation’s driving forces for formidable Spanish cinema, backing what it calls “event auteur” options, premium collection, documentaries and commercially positioned movies at a time when native producers are in search of scale, worldwide visibility and dependable financing companions.
The brand new group is structured round two major areas: content material and sport. Juan Andrés García Ropero, extensively often known as “Bropi,” will head the content material division, assuming accountability for movies, collection, documentaries, packages and new in-house manufacturing codecs.
García Ropero joined Movistar Plus+ in 2018 and has performed a major position within the improvement of the platform’s sports activities content material provide. His appointment now provides him bigger oversight, in a transfer, Movistar Plus+ stated Monday, designed to strengthen editorial capability and manufacturing technique.
Below García Ropero, content material shall be organized into 4 models. Bruna Hernando will lead Movistar Plus+ Originals, integrating scripted collection and non-fiction originals. Guillermo Farré will stay as head of Spanish Cinema. Iñigo Trojaola will oversee Editorial Growth and Acquisitions, whereas Hugo Tomás will lead Leisure.
Enric Rojas will proceed to go Enterprise Administration and Sports activities, protecting oversight of considered one of Movistar Plus’ core differentiators within the Spanish market. Sports activities rights, authentic protection and acknowledged on-air expertise stay central to the platform’s positioning, significantly inside Movistar’s broader convergent provide.
“Movistar Plus is opening a new stage with a clear ambition: to grow, invest in content and offer more and better entertainment services to our customers,” stated Gómez Palacio.
He added that the platform will stay “a key piece within Telefónica and Movistar’s convergent value proposition,” pointing to leisure, sport and distinctive content material as more and more necessary parts within the firm’s relationship with clients.
Gómez Palacio brings a largely telecoms and operations background to the position. He beforehand led Telefónica Hispanoamérica, after earlier senior positions together with management of Telefónica Colombia and Telefónica Hispam Norte. His profession locations him nearer to Telefónica’s broader buyer, enterprise and regional technique than to the standard profile of a tv content material government.
Gómez Palacio’s profile additionally factors to Movistar Plus’ broader position inside Telefónica España, the place the service aids buyer retention, bundled affords and premium differentiation. It has additionally been widening entry by new affords , together with a free tier and Plan Libre: Cine y Collection, priced at €4.99 ($5.80), for purchasers targeted on movies and collection reasonably than sport.
One open business query is the extent of additional change contained in the content material group. Kinótico first reported that Fran Araújo, government producer of authentic fiction at Movistar Plus and a key determine in its scripted technique, is leaving the corporate.
Araújo has been intently related to emblematic Movistar Plus productions as an excutive producer together with Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s status police drama “Riot Police” (“Antidisturbios”), Alejandro Amenábar’s international-facing restricted collection “La Fortuna” and Alberto Rodríguez’s “Anatomy of a Moment” (“Anatomía de un instante”), one of many platform’s main current political-history bets, the place he additionally served a considered one of its writers.
He additionally co-wrote crime dramas “Hierro” and “Rapa,” two of Movistar Plus’ largest hits, and was the artistic driving power behind the boldly experimental collection “Offworld” (“Apagón”).
