Matilde Boshell of MBA: Support the cable operator and develop strategies and opportunities together

“We trust operators very much and we continue in our approach that ‘all go through the operator’ to achieve great results. I think the Pay TV business still has many interesting years ahead. Our traditional business continues to grow and we continue to bet on it,” said Matilde Boshell, president and founder of MBA Networks, in #PRODUprimetime with Ríchard Izarra.

SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE OPERATOR
“Everything we do to keep up with the evolution of the industry is in the hands of the operators and our content partners to always optimize results, to get new streaming revenues, because you always have to open up to new opportunities of business. There are times when in the traditional business the satellites are saturated and there is no space. If you have the digital solution, you can reach an agreement and close an interesting negotiation, “she added.

OWN PLATFORM
“We began to consider having a digital platform for all the content that we represent today and for other brands, which are already more than 30, to also be able to deliver signals by streaming, by IP. To do this, we partner with a very interesting ally, Mediastream, which specializes in OTT and streaming platforms. They bet on our business as well and it has given us a great result. Today we are able to deliver content to all of our clients – large, medium, or small – over IP, which sometimes greatly facilitates deliveries and negotiations. But obviously, it is always B2B through the operator,” she indicated.

ADAPTATION AND INNOVATION
“Today I have the honor of being with a great professional, a tireless executive with more than 30 years of experience in the business of content acquisition and signal distribution throughout the Latin American region. One of her strengths has been the innovative way of adapting to new technologies and trends in our changing industry. She has helped many companies bring their channels to homes throughout our region. She is the sociologist Matilde Boshell, founder of her own company, MBA Networks, with 26 years of operations. If there is a born fighter who knows this industry, it is Matilde”, where Ríchard introduced her at the beginning of the interview.

AGGREGATORS
After her introduction, Matilde said: “We have become the most important aggregators and distributors of independent content in the Latin American region. Always thinking of our customers and content partners. They have supported us and have had the confidence to entrust us with their content with the certainty that we will position and distribute it very well in the region. We have always innovated in this changing industry, seeking different alternatives and flexibility in negotiations and seeking to deliver results. We have optimized any opportunity and we have reinvented ourselves in each step of the way.”

SATISFIED
She continued: “We are pleased to say that we have over 12 content partner groups supporting us. We have been very selective in the independent content that we represent. We are very proud of having them as partners and of the trust placed in MBA Networks, in addition to the results of being already distributed in practically all the major, medium, and small operators throughout the region.”

PARTNERS
In regard to their partners, she pointed out: “The Atresmedia group is a very important content group with A3Series, A3Cine, Antena 3, which we had from the beginning. Little by little they have been adding channels, such as ¡Hola! TV. They have positioned themselves very well in the market with very good results in their VOD content. Atresmedia already has the AtresPlayer that we were able to launch in Claro Video at a regional level. Right now we closed an agreement to renew all the signals. We have more than ten products with Millicom, with which we reached a contract renewal for this year and for three more years with all these signals that operate in nine territories, and we also include the AtresPlayer. We have just closed an agreement with Claro Puerto Rico with several of our signals and OTT. I think that in one or two months they will be on the air.”

CURIOSITYSTREAM AND MORE
“We also acquired the representation of CuriosityStream, a wonderful channel with an impressive quality of documentaries, from the founder of Discovery, which we are already beginning to penetrate in the region. And other channels, Fast, Funbox, and the traditional ones like Caracol, those of MVS – which we have been with for so many years, and which have always supported us, and which we have also positioned and distributed practically since we started the business. Also TV5, there are so many… For us all the content and all the content partners are very important. We have that responsibility to them. We have the best relationships with operators who are actually our friends. We continue to search and explore new content that adapts to this new digital age, and here we go. Nothing is easy.”

COLOMBIA
About the Colombian market, she said: “I think Colombia is a great country. We have had many problems, conflicts and the pandemic. Additionally, we had many stoppages that affected the economy. But we are all entrepreneurs, fighters who do not give up. Both open TV and pay TV and platforms are betting on entertainment, and there is still a lot of potential. Colombia, in every sense, is an excellent country in terms of economic recovery, promoting new opportunities, seeking new alliances. We hope that the economy will reactivate as it has already begun to do so. They say that it will be one of the Latin American countries with the highest growth: 7.6% for this year.”

THE REGION
Regarding the region, she expressed: “The region is beaten; affected by the entire economic issue of the pandemic. Nobody expected such a strong phenomenon that we have had to live and that it changed our lives. We no longer travel, personally, I really need it. Mexico, in entertainment, is doing very well. Central America is fairly stable. Argentina with the devaluation so strong has been a bit complex. Chile with all the constitutional reform and demonstrations also had a strong downturn, but they are still recovering and continue to grow: DIRECTV is there and Telefónica. Everyone is there and they keep betting. The Caribbean keeps on fighting. Overall, we are doing well. Peru right now with the changes of government and with so much politics, it is not easy. But they keep betting on the entertainment industry, in general, and looking for content, opportunities. As they say ‘content defines everything.’”

View interview here