Spanish digital satellite platform Via Digital has boarded Spanish title Tercavida (working title) as a co-producer alongside Madrid's PHF and Karma Films. The film, a comedy set in Madrid under second-time director Fernando Huertas, begins shooting this week. Via takes free and pay-TV rights to the project.

Although the entrance of Via in the local production sector would be welcomed by Spanish producers, sources at the platform say it is too soon to talk about any further production plans.

Tercavida marks PHF's first Spain shoot after its launch at Cannes last year. The company - a joint venture between Maestranza Films' Antonio Perez, MDA Films' Sarah Halioua and DMVB's Thierry Forte - plans to produce three to four films per year and back another two to three.

The company has formed strong relationships with Argentina's Patagonik Film Group and Italy's Surf Film. The three recently wrapped A Night With Sabrina Love (Una Noche Con Sabrina Love), starring Cecilia Roth and Giancarlo Giannini for director Alejandro Agresti.

The three partners have two other co-productions in development: Ninguna Parte, which will mark writer Luis Sepulveda's directorial debut, and The Scent Of The Books, an English-language project from writer/director Agresti planned for a 2001 shoot in the US.