TV & VIDEO - Sept. 16, 1988

The Latin wave has splashed over another corner of Hollywood. HBO and Cinemax announced Thursday that they will begin offering the choice of Spanish-dubbed movies in January. Their entry into Spanish-language TV programming is the result of technological and marketing innovations, said Michael Fuchs, HBO chairman and chief executive officer. HBO and Cinemax are following the lead of KTLA Channel 5, one of first English-language stations to simultaneously broadcast programs in Spanish with an extra audio channel that can be activated on stereo TV sets. Both cable networks are also taking advantage of the growing number of Spanish-language dubbed prints being released by the major studios. Some of the first films to be offered with dual English-Spanish audio tracks on HBO and Cinemax are “Platoon,” “La Bamba” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”