InterMedia acquires interest in Cine Latino.

InterMedia Partners, L.P., a New York-based private equity firm which owns WAPA-TV in Puerto Rico and WAPA America Network in the US, announced that it has acquired a 50% ownership interest in Cine Latino, the leading Spanish-language movie channel in the U.S., from MVS Television, a subsidiary of Mexico City’s Grupo MVS. MVS will retain the remaining 50%.

Cine Latino is a commercial-free television channel that offers the best known and most critically-acclaimed contemporary Spanish-language films. With more than 3 million cable and satellite subscribers.

“We are very excited to acquire an ownership position in Cine Latino and to have MVS as our partner”, said Alan Sokol of InterMedia Partners. “Cine Latino is already widely recognized as the leading Spanish-language movie channel in the U.S. We and MVS have ambitious plans to expand Cine Latino’s content and reinforce Cine Latino’s position as the leading Spanish-language movie brand in the U.S.”

In making public the closing of the transaction, Ernesto Vargas, President of MVS Televisión, stated “We are very happy to announce our partnership with InterMedia. As a result of this association, we will be able to bring Cine Latino’s signal to a wider audience. Not only will we promote Latin American filmmakers in non-Spanish speaking markets, but we’ll also provide Latin Americans living away from their countries a link to their motherlands and culture”.