A Direct-to-Home Service
Locomotion itself will begin broadcasting this fall, "probably sometime in October, via GLA, Galaxy Latin America's DirecTV service. Galaxy, which is based in Nassau, Bahamas, has Hughes Electronics (a division of General Motors) as its majority shareholder. MVS Multivision, a Mexican pay-TV company, Groupo Cisneros and Televisão Abril, a Brazilian media company, are the minority partners. (GLA's main competition will be the Los Angeles-based Sky Entertainment Services, which is backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Mexico's Groupo Televisia and Brazil's Organizaçõs Globo.)

"GLA," Sagner states, "provides direct-to-home service, and will make Locomotion available to all of the countries under its footprint, which will eventually number 23. The satellite service itself is brand new, so the countries are coming online one by one, and is only available now in Venezuela and Brazil. By the time we go on the air, I would expect that a number of other major territories, including Mexico, should be receiving the service; and most of the countries will be able to receive it by sometime by the middle of next year, ranging from Mexico down to the tip of Argentina."

The programming itself will be bilingual. Viewers will be able to hear programs through two audio channels either dubbed in Spanish or (for Brazil) in Portugese, or in their original language. "Thus," Sagner points out, "if the original program was American, British or Canadian, the secondary language will be English. If it's a French program, then mostly likely the secondary language will be French."

"It's our intention," he says, "to provide a variety of top quality animation that appeals to all ages. It's clear to us that there is an appetite for this type programming, not just for children, but for teenagers and adults as well. We think that we can fill that need. In other words, they'll be programming that appeals to adult sensibilities.

"For example," he points out, that besides a lot of very strong action-adventure programming from Japan, there are also shows from Europe that are a little more sophisticated," referring to such things as the new adult series being programmed by Britain's Channel 4.

Given the economic realities of today's Latin American marketplace, such satellite channels will, of necessity, aim for a relatively more upscale audience than views cable TV in the US or Canada. As such, its strategy to include more adult offerings than their North American counterparts makes a lot sense.

Phantom 2040. © 1994, Hearst Entertainment.

"Our intention," he explains, "is to also expand to cable and wireless services in about a year. Our hope is that DirecTV is going to grow very quickly, but it will certainly supplement the direct satellite broadcast."

Like a number of countries in Europe, most of Central and South America lacks the cable TV infrastructure so prevalent in the US and Canada. Sagner states that, "There are certain countries where cable is very well developed and obviously that would be a very smart route for us to take. However, there are others where there is little or no cable or wireless service available, and satellite systems are pretty much the only means of getting multichannel television."

It is certainly too early to tell how successful Locomotion will be. Nevertheless, its very existence, as an important component of a major new satellite broadcasting service is further indication of the importance being attached to animation in today's international marketplace. If it also fulfills its promise to be an animation and not just a children's channel, it can only help expand the market for more sophisticated fare.

Harvey Deneroff, in addition to his duties as Editor of Animation World Magazine, edits and publishes The Animation Report, an industry newsletter, which can be reached at deneroff@pacbell.net.