Teletica, the media network that broadcasts nationwide as well as abroad via Internet data streams, recently confirmed rumors related to its expansion in the near future. By 2015, the TV network that includes channel 7, XperTV, CableTica, the new Teletica Deportes channel (TD+), and TuYo Movil, will have a new studio in Costa Rica. This expansion may also hint at a future focus on reality TV programming.

As recently reported by Cesar Brenes Quiros of business weekly El Financiero, Teletica is working on getting the building permits ready to start construction on a studio that will be larger than its current facility in the west end of the La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San Jose. The new studio will be located just down the block from the existing studios, in the space that is currently occupied by the Newton sporting goods store on the way to the Pavas and Rohrmoser suburbs.

Aside from the new, 800-square meter studio, Teletica plans to invest $14 million this year in special broadcasts from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The network will also acquire new High Definition equipment and invest towards new reality show productions that may take advantage of the studio.

Television audiences in Costa Rica can’t get enough of local programming and reality shows. The sheer success of trashy game show Combate on rival TV network Repretel has sent Teletica programming directors scrambling to come up with a similar winning formula that involves showing plenty of skin, which Repretel seems to have mastered. A previous article in the Costa Rica Star, “As the Sexist Media Era in Italy Comes to an End, Costa Rica Sees the Beginning,” discussed the success of Combate and its predecessor, A Todo Dar:

It could be argued that Costa Rica is becoming similar to Italy not only in the sovereign debt department, but also in the depiction of women on the airwaves. It all began at the turn of the century with the Repretel television show “A Todo Dar” (an expression similar to “very cool”), a program that no one was sure what it was really about, but it became legendary for its scantily-clad Tica models who pranced and bounced across the screen until the show’s cancellation in 2005. A Todo Dar was vilified by media observers for its apparent objectification of attractive (and often surgically-enhanced) Ticas, but the show enjoyed very high ratings nonetheless.

Teletica also recently announced the purchase of the Dancing With the Stars reality TV franchise from the BBC. In the past, Teletica scored a minor hit with a Dancing With the Stars knockoff titled “Bailando por un sueno.” Locally produced reality shows such as Combate are not only wildly popular, they are relatively cheap to produce. Teletica is not waiting for the new studio to kick off Dancing With the Stars; filming will start in October, which leaves the door open for program directors to come up with a show that will prove to be a worthy opponent to take on Repretel’s Combate.