Soar-away South American soap opera, Avenida Brasil, will debut on ONTV MAX, the new entertainment channel on DSTV on July 1.
According to Tajudeen Adepetu, the CEO of Consolidated Media Associates, owners of ONTV MAX and the parent company for popular urban music platform, Soundcity, ONTV and Spice fashion channel among others: “Avenida Brasil is a gripping telenovela that is hugely popular in Brazil and other neighbouring South American countries even in Portugal.”
Starring among other South American screen stars like Debora Falabella, Murilo Benicio, Cauã Reymond and Adriana Esteves, Avenida Brasil tells the story of Rita, a sweet young woman, who struggles to recover part of the life her gold digger stepmother took from her when she was only a child.
It is a story of vengeance, melodrama and everyday vicissitudes that everybody can relate to.
As well as being a compelling watch, the show is notable for putting Brazil’s growing middle class centre stage where in the past it was the lives of the super wealthy that dominated the screens.
Says Adepetu: “This telenovela is so rich in characters that you will most likely find one that you identify with. It is also a contemporary telenovela and deals with a lot of social issues that everyone can identify with. It deals with the love of those who didn’t necessarily give life to a child, love between two people from a distance and different ages and a love that has to be suppressed due to the negative stigma of loving someone of the same gender.”
Premiered on primetime television in Brazil in March 2012, the series, which ran till October 2012, went on to become a critical and commercial success, exceeding audiences for even a football final.
So popular that on the day of its final episode in Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff felt obliged to change her work plans, a planned political rally, so that people could watch it.
Adepetu declared: “Brazilians are known to take their soap operas or novellas seriously, but this one has even surpassed another national passion, football. Would you believe that on its final episode, restaurants and bars held events in many cities and bets were placed to find out the plot’s final mystery? That is the kind of unprecedented phenomenon Avenida Brasil is. We have secured the broadcast rights for it and it would start airing on Wednesday, July 1st.”
ONTV MAX is the further rebranded extension of the ONTV experience, which launched on DSTV and GOTV in June, with a view to making and creating a complete television package experience unrivalled by any platform currently in operation.
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