Industry’s First Royalty-Free, Tex-Mex “Cybernovela”, AlamoHeightsSA, Debuts 

Content Shaped For the Internet and Mobile Devices

 
 

Simultaneously Filmed in Spanish & English, New Episodic Program Features Powerful Families, a Lingerie Empire, Jealousy, Back Stabbing, Cross Border Business Drama, and a Successful Brand Integration Business Model

 

HOUSTON, TX – November 28, 2006 – Alamo Heights SA Holdings, LLC announced today the launch of the industry’s first royalty-free, cross-cultural, Tex-Mex cybernovela, www.alamoheightsSA.com, content shaped for the Internet and Mobile devices, a production from Alamo Heights SA Holdings. The first show of its kind to exhibit a successful business model, it uses disruptive product placement/brand integration technology that is predicted to displace the traditional 30 second TV ad. Alamo Heights SA Holdings was formed by zyntroPICS INC., El Mundo Entertainment, and private Texas investment groups. Full episodes will be available immediately on multiple ad-supported Internet networks and portals, on broadcast TV, and on alamoheightsSA.com.

 

alamoheightsSA is a royalty-free, cross-cultural melodramedy, part Soap, part Novela, part paid Cable drama; following the lives of two families, one in San Antonio, Texas and their manufacturing counterpart in Monterrey, Mexico. “Even though Internet TV has become a multibillion dollar business with Google’s purchase of YouTube, it is still all about shaping compelling content and building a viable business model,” said Eric Weymueller, Producer, Alamo Heights SA Holdings, LLC. “We are the first to do both. We’ve developed 40 four-act episodes with duration of 7-9 minutes each for a budget of just over $1 million. The program has proven to be very appealing to the 18-30 demographic and to female viewers in particular.”

 

Filmed on two channels, Spanish and English, delivery will be via Broadband Internet, IPTV, Digital Cable, Podcasting, and Mobile TV. The full episodes will be available on terrestrial television station group LAT TV (LatinAmerica Broadcasting, Inc. ä) and multiple ad-supported Internet “networks,” including Brightcove, Guba, VEOH and Kiptronic; with supplemental and marketing content available through the additional viral video sites, including YouTube, Revver, Vimeo, Grouper and two MySpace pages. LAT TV is the channel brand name of LatinAmerica Broadcasting, Inc.™, a private company which provides the best in Spanish-language entertainment, and quality programming in five major markets: Austin, KVAT-CH 17; Dallas/Fort Worth KJJM-CH 34; Houston KCVH -CH 30; Phoenix KVPA-CH 42; San Antonio, KISA-CH 40.

 

“We are very excited about carrying the alamoheightsSA program on our network” said Patricia Torres-Burd, Exec. VP of Programming for LAT TV. “We believe that it will be very appealing to our viewers in the targeted demographic because the quality of content and production fits within our mission to raise the level of Spanish language television. Eric Weymueller and Lynn Birdwell have assembled a great cast and team and the result is stunning. Eric’s vision for what the future of media holds in his integration of both over the air and broadband content is aligned to our mission of better serving our audiences with relevant content.”


The first 12 Pilot Episodes will be released between 20 November and 20 December, where there is a tie-in with the fictitious line of lingerie featured in the Series, hauT’amales, and the real manufacturer’s online store, yumdrop.com. Starting on November 27, 2006 the first three episodes can be viewed on www.alamoheightsSA.com.

 
“The debut of alamoheightsSA as an episodic program delivered over the Internet is another sign that creative content producers are looking outside traditional media outlets and turning to the multimedia Web,” said Jonathan Cobb, founder and CEO of Kiptronic. “Using

sponsorship platforms such as Kiptronic, alamoheightsSA can promote its audience and connect with the advertisers that connect with their intended demographic.”

 

Full of intrigue, romance, jealousy, back stabbing and sex, the series relates the struggles, betrayals, and intrigues that intertwine two Hispanic families and their jointly-run lingerie empire with a headquarters in San Antonio, Texas and a factory in Monterrey, Mexico. The show will fuse story elements from the melodramatic telenovelas of Latin America with plots derived from modern pop culture and current events, creating an unpretentious “melodramady” that explores everything from unrequited love, to Mexican-American border relations, to women’s undergarments.

 

“Advertisers love the business model and are anxious to take advantage of this new and less expensive channel to their target markets,” said Weymueller. “Product placement is backed up by aggregated metrics cumed from our distribution partners. We will use viral marketing as well as more traditional methods. Some of our actors have fan bases as large as 24,000 on MySpace. All will get a copy of the show and they will pass it along to their friends. We make it easy for people to get the show where and when they want it, unlike traditional networks, who lock their content behind DRM restricted portals. Through Brightcove, we plan to syndicate the channel to other portals as well. Many pundits are calling this new medium the future of TV. It has enabled us to become our own network, saving us the hassle of having to negotiate with the larger and more well established networks for funding and air time.”

 

alamoheightsSA’s High Definition production format (1080i, 24p) ensures viewers will also be able to watch episodes on their HD or Standard Definition televisions through an IPTV provider or through a future DVD release without a depreciation of production quality.

 

Community supplemental content includes blogs from the show’s characters and viewers are encouraged to enact their own scenes on alamoheightsSA’s “Your Show” page. Weymueller continues, “Eventually, we will include supplemental content so that subscribers will receive text message alerts to listen on their cell phones to phone conversations between characters and access behind-the-scenes photos on their wireless devices.” One of the lead characters has her own MySpace® page and website, entitled lingeriemodelconfessions.com, which fans of alamoheightsSA may view and interact with. The website will also offer an assortment of behind-the-scenes material on topics such as, “character vlogs” and interviews with the cast, crew and creators.

 

About Alamo Heights SA Holdings

alamoheightsSA is a cross-cultural cybernovela, the concept was created by San Antonio native Rick Cuéllar of El Mundo Entertainment and developed by Texas-based production companies zyntroPICS, INC. The production team includes Rick Cuéllar, as Executive Producer. For zyntroPICS, Joanna Robinson is Showrunner and Executive Producer. Eric Weymueller of zyntroPICS is the show’s Producer. Lynn Birdwell, serves as Co-Producer for the project. The Pilot Episodes (12) were shot in October 2006, with the balance of Season One episodes scheduled to commence shooting in mid-January 2007 for release in February.