Telefónica SVoD service buys CBS, Showtime dramas

The new subscription on-demand service of Spanish telco Telefónica has close a multi-year rights agreement for dramas from CBS and Showtime.

The exclusive deal with CBS Studios International hands Telefónica Spain-owned Movistar Series Under the Dome, The Good Wife and new season hit Madam Secretary from CBS and Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan and Golden Globe-winning series The Affair.

Classic CBSSI titles such as Twin Peaks and Medium are also included in the agreement.

Telefónica launched Movistar Series on December 10. Spain does not yet have a market-leading SVOD platform, meaning Movistar Series is one of the first subscription platforms in the territory.

“It’s terrific to be working with Telefonica for the first time and on such a significant deal for the Spanish television market,” said Armando Nuñez, president and CEO, CBS Global Distribution Group, which houses CBSSI.

“Our titles will bring to the new Movistar Series service a mixture of action and drama, with award-winning casts and CBS’s customary high-qualityproduction values.”

The news came soon after CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves told analysts on an investor call that his firm had sold more than 300 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation to an unnamed platform. “CSI is already a multibillion franchise and new screening deals will only add to that,” he said.

CBS’s biggest-rating series, NCIS, meanwhile, is also set to be sold to a streaming platform for the first time, Moonves added.

“We have the whole NCIS catalogue in our arsenal as well to sell and discussions are already underway to license that show later this year.”

“The future for these two franchises, which have not yet been introduced into the streaming world, is going to be pretty tremendous throughout the rest of 2015 and beyond,” he said.