Shine America Launches New Spanish Language Division.
24th Jan 2013
Veteran Colombian TV producer and executive Cristina Palacio has been named President, Shine Hispanic & Latin America, a new division of Shine America that will develop and produce original Spanish-language content for the U.S. and Latin American marketplaces, it was announced today by Shine America CEO Rich Ross.
A highly respected executive and producer of scripted, reality, game and docu-series programming across Latin America, Palacio most recently was the founder and President of Colombian-based TV production company BE-TV.
Palacio, who reports to Ross, will oversee new Shine America offices in both Miami, Fla., and Bogota, Colombia, with programming distributed through Shine International.
“With Shine Hispanic & Latin America we are looking to further develop and distribute both scripted and un-scripted programming to the rapidly growing Spanish-language marketplace,” says Ross. “Cristina’s vast experience in production and distribution make her the ideal person to lead our new team.”
Shine Group CEO Alex Mahon said: “Christina is a brilliant, respected and versatile creative executive and as such naturally suited to both leading our drive into the Latin American market and collaborating with her like-minded peers across Shine. We are particularly excited about the creative potential of the Hispanic market in the U.S. and her experience will turbo charge the business we have started. We welcome her warmly to the group.”
“I am thrilled to take on this new role, where I can continue to work with many of my colleagues in Colombia and at the same time lead Shine America further into the Spanish-language programming business,” says Palacio. “Shine has so many executives that I respect and admire, as well as a wealth of formats from across the globe that we plan to develop and distribute across the U.S. and Latin America.”
Last fall, Shine America developed its first Spanish-language series “Minuto Para Ganar” (“Minute It Win It”) for MundoFox.
In 2008, Palacio first launched BE-TV in Bogota, quickly turning it into a bustling Latin American TV production company. Palacio oversaw the development and distribution of numerous BE-TV hit series including “Los Infiltrados,” “El Cartel de los Sapos 2,” “La Isla,” “Las Muñecas de la Mafia” and “Minuto Para Ganar.”
Prior to founding BE-TV, Palacio served as both Vice President of Development and Vice President of Creative and Production for Caracol TV in Bogota. There she oversaw such series as “Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso” and “Desafio.” Before she joined Caracol TV, Palacio was Creative Director for Teleset S.A.
She got started in the industry producing telenovelas, serving as a writer, director and executive producer on a variety of Latin American scripted series. Early in her career, Palacio also entered into un-scripted programming, producing Spanish-language versions of such series as “Pop Stars,” “Family Feud,” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Palacio earned a B.A. in Social Communications from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and an MA in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research in New York City. Palacio will be based out of Shine’s new Miami office.
