Telemundo announced it has granted NBCUniversal Entertainment an option to develop “El Señor de los Cielos” (The Lord of the Skies), the network’s highest-rated novela last season, and USA Network an option to develop the upcoming and highly-anticipated novela “Mujer de Acero” (Woman of Steel). On the heels of multiple cross-company initiatives including the reality competition shows “La Voz Kids” and “Top Chef Estrellas,” the weekly news segment “Access Hollywood Al Rojo Vivo,” and the multiple simulcasts between NBC’s Today show and Telemundo’s morning show “Un Nuevo Día,” among others, NBCUniversal’s Hispanic Enterprises and Content Division continues to develop business and content opportunities across the company’s multiple brands.

“These agreements are further examples of our continuous efforts to work across the NBCUniversal brands to integrate and leverage our resources and expertise,” said Joe Uva, Chairman, Hispanic Enterprises and Content, NBCUniversal. “This marks the first time that NBC and USA have optioned content from Telemundo, and demonstrates the growing interest in the telenovela format in the general market.”

“The telenovela format has a long history of delivering compelling episodic dramas and storylines that transcend culture and generations. We’re fortunate to have a library of stellar content that we can tap into with Telemundo and are excited at the prospect of extending it across our cable portfolio,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

“El Señor de los Cielos” is a fictional and action-filled story full of raw passion and emotions, untold luxury, suffering, intrigue and suspense.  Inspired by true events, the series tells the story of Aurelio Casillas (Rafael Amaya), one of the most prominent Mexican drug lords from the 90s, whose ambition was to become one of the richest and most powerful men in Mexico.

“Developing this hugely popular telenovela allows us to not only showcase the great plotlines and stories that have captured Spanish-speaking audiences in an English-language adaptation, but it gives us the great opportunity to work hand in hand with our NBCUniversal partners at Telemundo,” said Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment. “We can’t wait to get started.”

"El Señor de los Cielos" ranked as Telemundo’s #1 novela last year averaging 2.3 million total viewers and nearly 1.5 million adults 18-49. The season finale averaged over 3.6 million viewers and beat Univision among adults 18-49 and18-34 in its period. In addition, the hit series beat at least one of the English-language networks three out of four nights among adults 18-49 during its run. The series will be developed by Universal Television for NBC Entertainment.

“USA has always been known for its signature original dramas, and we are constantly looking for new formats as we roll out the next generation of shows on our network,” said Chris McCumber, President of USA Network. “This is a great opportunity for USA to partner with our sister network, and develop extraordinarily popular Hispanic content for the English language audience.”

“Mujer de Acero” is a highly-anticipated original production by Telemundo Studios set to premiere this fall.  It tells the story of a woman who goes from a simple housemaid to rocking the foundation of the Mexican government.  After her husband is killed at their wedding, our heroine finds out he lied about his background and is, in fact, a wanted criminal. Her life becomes a race to evade the authorities and her husband’s enemies, as she becomes the “queen of organized crime.” The series will be developed by Universal Cable Productions for USA Network.

On the heels of delivering its best weekly performance to date, Telemundo Media’s original production “El Señor de los Cielos” (The Lord of the Skies, M-F 10pm ET) came to an end delivering its highest-rated telecast and the second highest-rated finale in the network’s history, regardless of time period, averaging 3,627,000 total viewers and 2,324,000 adults 18-49, according to Nielsen.  In its final episode, the popular novela ranked as the #1 program in its time period among Spanish-language networks, out delivering Univision among adults 18-49 by 60% and among total viewers by 16%. 

A co-production between Telemundo Studios and Caracol TV featuring novela stars Rafael Amaya, Ximena Herrera, Fernanda Castillo and Gabriel Porras, "El Señor de los Cielos” full run averaged 2.3 million total viewers and nearly 1.5 million adults 18-49, ranking as the second highest-rated novela in the network’s history.  At 10pm, the hit series ranked #1 with adults 18-34, regardless of language, a quarter of the time since its premiere. The series beat at least one of the English-language networks among adults 18-34 nearly every night and 76% of the time among adults 18-49. Additionally, the series outperformed Univision to rank #1 with adults 18-34 among Spanish-language broadcasters almost half of the nights since its premiere.

Locally, the finale was the #1 program regardless of language in its time period among key demos (adults 18-49 & 18-34) in Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Phoenix.  It also out-delivered ABC’s “Bachelorette” finale (8-10p ET) among adults 18-49 in Chicago.  

Additionally, the finale broke records online and on mobile during the full run of the show attracting over 700,000 users and generating over 10 million page views.  On mobile, it attracted over half a million unique users and generated over 12 million page views.  It was the #1 streamed novela online and on mobile for 2013.

“El Señor de los Cielos," Telemundo's most ambitious production to date, tells the story of Aurelio Casillas (Rafael Amaya), one of the most prominent Mexican drug lords from the 1990's, whose ambition was to become one of the richest and most powerful men in Mexico. From the moment his photo was published, his face became his biggest stumbling block. The authorities, as well as his enemies, began to pursue him and he opted for high-risk plastic surgery to conceal his identity.

Angelique Boyer continues to enjoy her time off, and this time she was seen hanging out with her friend, actress Fernanda Castillo. Both actresses were smiling and were quite talkative while having lunch in a restaurant in Mexico City.