NBC Universal's Spanish-language network Telemundo SA bought a 40% stake in Colombian TV producing company RTI for an undisclosed amount, Don Browne, Telemundo's president, said Tuesday.

The company will produce TV shows, mainly soap operas, for broadcasting in the U.S. by Telemundo and will offer those shows all over the world, Browne said.

RTI, which owns one TV studio in Bogota, produced shows for Telemundo in the past, and in 2005, RTI sold its stake in another studio it jointly owned with Telemundo in Miami to its partner.

RTI's owners until now were local businessmen.

Telemundo, the world's second largest producer of Spanish-language TV shows, is owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE).

Colombia's TV producers have expanded and acquired regional notoriety after producing world's blockbusters such as the original version of Ugly Betty earlier in the decade.

-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; 57-310-867 65 42; colombia@dowjones.com