Discovery U.S. Hispanic announced Monday (May 11) the 2015-16 upfront slates for Discovery Familia and Discovery en Español.

Discovery en Español will expand its automotive and adventure programming nights with new series Cuban Chrome, Lost and Starving (working title) and documentary Lunar XPrize (wt).

In addition, the network will add natural history specials To Be King and Racing Extinction. Discovery en Español also will return Fast N’ Loud, Alaska: The Last Frontier and Naked and Afraid for new seasons.

Discovery Familia will amp up its beauty, home and cooking programming with new series Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, How Do I Look, Buying Alaska and My Big, Fat Fabulous Life. It has put in new season orders for three Buddy Valastro series -- Cake Boss, Next Great Baker and Bakery Boss -- as well as Pregnant in Heels and What Not to Wear.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

The border between Colombia and Venezuela is home to some of the world’s richest oil and gas reserves. But it is also a region wracked by violence, contraband and armed groups vying to control the territory. Viewers in the U.S. can now get an up-close look at the challenges facing leaders on both sides of the border by tuning to Discovery en Español each Sunday at 10pm.

La Frontera Más Caliente, which premiered Feb. 15, is a new docu-series airing on Discovery en Español, the main Spanish-language offering from Discovery Communications. Additionally, later this year the network will debut a dubbed-in-Spanish version of Racing Extinction, a documentary film from Academy Award-winning director Louie Psihoyos that saw its premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Meanwhile, sister network Discovery Familia will add unscripted series Mi Gran Boda Gitana to its line-up this year.

La Frontera Más Caliente: Colombia-Venezuela, a documentary-style co-production of Discovery Networks Latin America/U.S. Hispanic and Colombia’s Caracol Televisión under the supervision of Michela Giorelli, Discovery vice president of production and development, seeks to uncover the “modus operandi” and illegal routes traffickers use to move gasoline, food and currency into Colombia. The program also exposes how local residents rub shoulders with traffickers, paramilitary and guerrilla groups as well as common criminals in the quest to profit from the lucrative contraband trade.

The film travels through strategic locations along the Colombia-Venezuela border to hold exclusive interviews with political analysts, customs agents, naval officials, relatives of those who have disappeared and representatives of the peace-endorsing foundations active in the sensitive border region.

The series was produced by Pacha Films under the direction of Luis del Valle, also responsible for the production of Discovery en Español’s 2014 Emmy- winning documentary Trata de mujeres: de Tenancingo a Nueva York (Sex Trafficking: From Tenancingo to New York).

The network’s new documentary Racing Extinction puts together a team of artists and activists on an undercover operation to expose the hidden world of endangered species and the race to protect them against mass extinction.

Director Psihoyos’s 2010 documentary The Cove, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, covered similar territory, drawing attention to mass dolphin kills. Racing Extinction aims to serve as a catalyst for a larger ongoing campaign against carbon emissions, with Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Productions on board to develop and execute that initiative.

With Mi Gran Boda Gitana, the dubbed-in-Spanish version of My Big Gypsy Wedding, Discovery Familia is putting its focus on brides and bachlorettes among a nontraditional group of Americans mainly known for their presence across Europe.

The series, airing on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET) examines the world of young U.S. gypsies, and their customs and traditions.

A Hispanic-focused YouTube network has partnered with Spanish-language pay TV network Discovery Familia in an arrangement that brings some of the most popular online fare to la pantalla chica.

MiTu, a Culver City, Calif.-based digital media enterprise focused on video content, announced November 12 that it had forged a cross-platform programming deal to bring Latino talent to Discovery Familia’s TV and digital audiences.

The arrangement allows Discovery Familia to add the long-format version of two new online series featured on MiTu to its lineup. Casa Linda, featuring Mexican home design expert and professional art director Linda Ruiz, bows Nov. 20 at the 10 p.m. (ET/PT) on Discovery Familia. In each episode, Ruiz comes to the rescue of design-challenged individuals with quick and affordable suggestions for adding style and beauty to their homes.

A second show set to debut Dec. 12 on Discovery Familia is Gurús de Belleza, starring beauty and fashion influencers Marisol Gomez, Cris Ordaz and Gaby Motomochi.  Both shows were originally produced in-house and incubated on MiTú’s YouTube channel, MiTú Life.

“At Discovery Familia we are committed to being at the forefront of the evolving media landscape,” Discovery Familia vice president of content Bilai Joa Silar said. “With this strategic partnership, we have the opportunity to continue to expand our content offering, leveraging up and coming MiTú talent and reaching our audience with storytelling that travels across platforms.”

New episodes of the digital series will continue to run on MiTú Life, while original episodes of the television series will air weekly on Discovery Familia, both tied with a cross-platform engagement program that provides viewers with a truly immersive multiscreen experience.

MiTu in June raised $10 million in funding from its investors, including lead investor Upfront Ventures. The funding will allow MiTu to build production facilities in Southern California and in Mexico City, in addition to hiring additional engineering and sales staff. MiTu was founded in 2012 by a team that includes Beatriz Acevedo, known for a nearly 20-year run as founder/president of multicultural production firm HIP Entertainment Group.