Universal Music Group-owned GTS has signed an alliance with Telemundo around Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos, the US edition of the Spanish music competition.
The agreement gives GTS a preferential right to sign the artists who emerge from the program, plus a role in developing their eventual concert tour.
Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos premiered on Telemundo on Tuesday (July 7).
GTS, short for Global Talent Services, is Universal Music Group‘s Latin artist services agency, spanning management, booking, promotion and brand partnerships.
It became a standalone division within UMG in 2024 and, a year later, acquired Spanish management company RLM (Rosa Lagarrigue Management).
The tie-up connects GTS to a format its leadership helped build.
Narcís Rebollo, GTS’s CEO and President, was a founding partner of Vale Music, the label that released the first Operación Triunfo records and that Universal acquired in 2006.
“It is a source of pride and a responsibility for GTS to take part in the first edition of Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos alongside the Telemundo network.”
Narcís Rebollo, GTS
“It is a source of pride and a responsibility for GTS to take part in the first edition of Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos alongside the Telemundo network,” said Rebollo.
“This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the format, in whose development I had the opportunity to participate from the very beginning — both in management and on the recording side — hand in hand with its creators, José María Mainat, Toni Cruz and Joan Ramon Mainat, achieving historic results for television, the record industry and artist management from Spain.”
“I want to thank Javier Pons and his team for the opportunity to be part of this first edition in the United States, as well as José María Mainat for the trust he has always placed in my personal involvement and that of my team to lead the careers of the talent that has emerged from the format over all these years.”
“I am convinced that we will discover great promise in this first edition in the United States, and we will dedicate all our effort and professionalism to making it possible, once again.”
GTS already manages several Operación Triunfo graduates.
Its roster includes former contestants Aitana, Amaia, David Bisbal, Lola Índigo, Pablo López, David Bustamante, Chiara Oliver and Juanjo Bona.
Now it has first pick of the talent the US series produces.
Javier Pons, Chief Content Officer and Head of Telemundo Studios, said: “We are excited to join forces with GTS in the first edition of Operación Triunfo in the United States.”
“This alliance allows us not only to discover and train a new generation of Latin talent in the country, representative of diverse nationalities, but also to boost their careers beyond the program, giving them real opportunities for artistic development and projection in the music industry.”
Javier Pons, Telemundo Studios
“This alliance allows us not only to discover and train a new generation of Latin talent in the country, representative of diverse nationalities, but also to boost their careers beyond the program, giving them real opportunities for artistic development and projection in the music industry.”
The format’s US launch comes 25 years after Operación Triunfo began in Spain.
It first aired on public broadcaster TVE on October 22, 2001, created by Gestmusic producers Toni Cruz and brothers José María and Joan Ramon Mainat.
The show is part of Endemol’s Star Academy franchise, and the format is now owned by Banijay, whose Gestmusic label produces it in Spain.
It has been adapted in 31 countries, according to Gestmusic.
First-season runner-up David Bisbal won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist in 2003, the year after his debut album Corazón Latino topped Spain’s chart.
He returns to the franchise as a judge on the US edition.
Aitana, runner-up in the 2017 revival, signed to Universal Music Spain and has since headlined stadium shows in Madrid and Barcelona and won a Latin Grammy
Other artists from the Spanish show include 2017 winner Amaia and Lola Índigo, the first contestant eliminated that year.
Telemundo’s version is produced by Telemundo Studios and hosted by Natalia Téllez, with David Bisbal, Ana Bárbara and Ximena Sariñana as judges.
Its first season features 20 contestants from the United States, Puerto Rico and several Latin American countries, with the winner set to receive a recording contract.
The partnership lines up two corporate parents: Universal Music Group and Comcast.
GTS sits within UMG, while Telemundo is part of NBCUniversal, Comcast‘s media arm — making this, in effect, a Comcast–Universal collaboration.
The two Universals, Universal Music Group and Comcast‘s NBCUniversal, are separate companies despite the shared name.
Comcast said on June 29 that it plans to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate public company, a tax-free separation it expects to complete in around a year.
That would move Telemundo — alongside NBC, Peacock and the Universal film and television studios — into the standalone NBCUniversal.
Latin recorded music generated more than USD $1 billion in US wholesale revenues in 2025, up 4.2% year-over-year and a record 8.8% of the total US recorded music market, according to the RIAA.
In Spain, Operación Triunfo now airs on Amazon‘s Prime Video.
The first winner of Operación Triunfo Estados Unidos is due to be crowned at the end of the Telemundo season.Music Business Worldwide
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