Love and Cartels: mun2 Premieres "La Reina del Sur" (The Queen of the South) Sunday, February 19, at 8pm/7c

USA - English

• Latin America - español

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Jan. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- mun2, the leading bicultural cable network, will premiere the thrilling telenovela "La Reina del Sur" in Spanish with English subtitles on February 19 at 8 pm/7c with an encore premiere on Monday, February 20 (Presidents' Day) at 10 pm/9c. The 63-episode novela set ratings records during its original airing on Telemundo in the spring of 2011 with an average of 4.2 million total viewers (persons 2+).

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"La Reina" will air Monday through Thursday at 10 pm/9c with a Friday fan marathon of the week's episodes starting at 7 pm/6c. Series episodes will be available on mun2.tv/reina. mun2 is the #1 bilingual, entertainment and lifestyle cable network amongst Gen YLA (Hispanics,18-34). The network recently finished its best ratings year in its history, according to Nielsen, with double-digit, year-over-year growth in all demos, compared to 2010.

"The story of 'La Reina' transfixed audiences last year across the U.S. and the globe, and we are thrilled to bring this amazing series to our mun2 audience," said Diana Mogollon, General Manager, mun2. "Teresa's life is a shocking, tantalizing and vivid one, and audiences responded to it in record numbers last year. We know that with our English-language subtitles we will engage not only the 'Reina' devotees but also those who want to watch one of the most captivating series on television."

"La Reina del Sur" tells the story of Teresa Mendoza, a humble young woman from Sinaloa, Mexico. Mendoza, who is played by renowned actress Kate del Castillo, sees her life take a drastic turn when she falls in love with the wrong man - the handsome El Guero Avila (Rafael Amaya). El Guero was a Chicano pilot from San Antonio, TX involved in drug trafficking for the powerful drug lord, Epifanio Vargas (Humberto Zurita).

Based on Arturo Perez Reverte's bestseller, the genre and audience-defining series was shot by Telemundo Studios in four continents – North and South America, Europe and Africa.

The novela also had a primetime average of 3 million total viewers and 2 million adults 18-49. Over the course of its on-air run, "La Reina del Sur" was Telemundo's most successful novela in the network's history, reaching 16.6 million total viewers.

Reach based on NPM Cume, Persons 2+, 6+ minute qualified audience and full-run data for "La Reina del Sur" based on 2/28/2011-05/26/2011.

Series background:

Everything begins with a simple phone call that changes Teresa's destiny forever. Her boyfriend had warned her that if the telephone rang, it meant that he was dead and that his enemies would come for her because, in this dark business, people must pay for treason with their own life and the lives of their loved ones.

The story of "La Reina del Sur" spans three continents, after the dreaded phone call that forces Teresa to escape to Spain and a series of subsequent events mark her life forever.

Teresa eventually arrives in Melilla, a Spanish city in Northern Africa, where she falls in love with another handsome drug dealer, Santiago Fisterra (Ivan Sanchez), who shares all the secrets about speed boating, sailing and surviving the Straits of Gibraltar. Teresa ends up in prison, where her cellmate, Patricia O'Farrel (Cristina Urgel), turns her into a refined and elegant woman. Upon her release, Teresa becomes linked to the Russian mafia and heads the grand empire of a drug ring, heading a usually male-dominated industry.

Produced in high definition by Telemundo Studios, "La Reina del Sur" was shot on location in Morocco, Mexico, Spain and Colombia. The RTI-Telemundo production features a star-studded cast including: Kate del Castillo, Humberto Zurita, Rafael Amaya, Ivan Sanchez, Cristina Urgel, Alberto Jimenez, Miguel de Miguel, Gabriel Porras, Sara Maldonado, Nacho Fresneda, Monica Estarreado, Cuca Escribano, Carmen Navarro, Alejandro Calva, Dagoberto Gama, Salvador Zerboni, Christian Tappan, Eduardo Velasco, Alfonso Vallejo, Lorena Santos, Pablo Castanon, Mighello Blanco, Juan Jose Arjona, Klaus and Santiago Menendez.

About mun2:

mun2 (mun-dos) is the lifestyle Hispanic cable network for today's generation YLA (Young Latino Americans), 18-34.  As the leading bicultural network that amplifies the Latino experience, mun2 is culturally relevant and uniquely American.  From reality to music, on-air to digital, mun2 creates original content across a multi-screen platform.  As the only nationally measured bicultural cable network by Nielsen, mun2 has an increased distribution to over 36 million households, and is a part of Telemundo Media, a division of NBCUniversal.

Follow us on Twitter: @mun2, and Facebook: facebook.com/mun2

SOURCE mun2