John Leguizamo took the stage at the Hispanic Television Summit, as the session “Reflections on The Making of American Historia” went down. The three-part series premieres on PBS September 27 and airs on consecutive Fridays. 

Leguizamo said the project began because his son was being bullied at school for being Latino, and Leguizamo recalled the same thing happening when he grew up in Queens. “To me, violence is the lowest form of communication,” he said, so he decided to share with his son the contributions Latinos have made to the world. 

“In my research, I found a plethora of contributions to the world, and to America, that was mind-blowing,” said the actor and producer. “I couldn’t believe how much we’d contributed to the world.”

Cynthia Lopez, CEO, New York Women in Film & Television, moderated the panel. She called American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos “cinematically beautiful to watch and historically accurate.” The series sees Leguizamo in the U.S. and Mexico, unearthing Latino history. 

Ben DeJesus, co-founder of NGL Studios with Leguizamo, was also on the panel, along with Luis Ortiz, managing director, Latino Public Broadcasting.

DeJesus shared how he and Leguizamo were at work on the Broadway show Latin History for Morons and ended up with a lot of good material they could not use in the live production. DeJesus said, “There’s something here — what if we took all these stories that did not make the Broadway stage?”

Their projects often begin with a call to Latino Public Broadcasting. Ortiz said he likes to be “the starting point” for such projects. 

“Latino voices are not being told enough, and we want to [share] those stories,” he said. 

Asked what he learned in putting the project together, Leguizamo said “a lot of beautiful surprises” rose to the surface of his research. “We wanted the top-most experts in Latino history in our show to validate our contributions,” he said, adding, “People think we just got here. But we’ve always been here.”

DeJesus said the production aimed for a “more premiere” production than one might expect from a docuseries on broadcast TV. 

The Hispanic TV Summit is part of NYC TV Week, hosted by Broadcasting+Cable, Multichannel News and Next TV.

Leguizamo said he hopes all children, not just those from the Hispanic community, learn from American Historia. “They matter, they’re important, they can do anything they choose to do with their lives,” he said. “That’s what I want to [pass on].”

DeJesus spoke of promoting “a better sense of understanding for our community. I would love for audiences to come out and be like, wow, I didn’t know that!”

Ortiz credited Leguizamo and DeJesus for touching upon a wide variety of Latino cultures in the project, and for focusing on women. 

“Latina women are the powerhouse of Latino culture,” Leguizamo said. “It wasn’t hard to put them in there because they put themselves there.”

The 22nd Annual Hispanic Television Summit, set for September 11, offers a daylong series of conversations that focuses on how TV is authentically reflecting Latino stories.

One conversation will feature actor John Leguizamo with filmmaker Ben DeJesus of NGLmitu and Luis Ortiz of Latino Public Broadcasting. They discuss American Historia, a three-part series that uncovers the overlooked contributions of Latinos in history.  It premieres on PBS in September.

“Here we are in the 21st century, and my son can’t see himself in history textbooks,” Leguizamo said earlier this year at the PBS Annual Meeting. “We’re not anywhere in history textbooks, and we helped build America.”

Another session focuses on how Latino stories are reflected in the news and features journalists Cristina Navarrete, weekend anchor and general assignment reporter for WNJU New York (Telemundo 47); Jessica Formoso, reporter for WNYW New York (Fox 5); and Tanya Rivero, WABC New York weekend anchor. 

A different session focuses on Latino stories in new productions and includes programmers like Hortensia Quadreny Tenchi of  Warner Bros. Discovery, Oswald Mendez of Canela TV, Frank Scheuermann of Endemol Shine Boomdog and more.

A discussion on streaming and distribution features executives including Jen McBride from Condista; Luis Torres Bohl of Castalia and Mexicanal; Doris Vogelmann of V-Me and Evan Redwood of  Google.  In another session, Comcast’s Jose Velez Silva will discuss Now TV Latino, Xfinity’s new streaming platform for serving Latino audiences. 

A session focused on media strategies features Marina Filippelli from Orci; Ron Mendez, with GroupM Multicultural; Alex Minicucci at Horizon Media; and Carla Kelly from NBCUniversal Media.  An opening keynote address is presented by another media star, Isabela Sanchez of Zubi Advertising, who is the current chair of the Hispanic Marketing Council.  Plus, the agenda also includes new research findings from Altman Solon, AIMM, Nielsen and Horowitz, plus a lunchtime mariachi performance.

Award Winners Honored

A popular segment is the presentation of the Hispanic TV Awards. This year’s recipients will be recognized for their contribution to the business of TV for Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and worldwide.

Chiqui Cartagena is the director of CUNY TV and an author. She is one of the two recipients of the Rafael Eli Award for Pioneer in Hispanic Television. Her inspiration comes from her friendship with TV talk show legend, Cristina Saralegui. Cartagena covered news in her early career, and claims this for her success. She used her journalistic skills to develop new Spanish-language media and marketing products. She said receiving this award gives her courage.

The other recipient of the Pioneer Award is Javier Saralegui, CEO of Danger TV. His mentor is Jerry Perenchio, a pioneer in Hispanic television at Univision. Saralegui shared that he was often the first employee hired for new projects and that made him realize that he would be underresourced and require him to develop an “outside the box” mindset.  He said this mindset is a key to his success.

Three awards will be presented for leadership in Hispanic Television.  One goes to Isabel Rafferty Zavala, founder and CEO of Canela Media. She credits her mother for her ability to remain committed to her vision of securing $32 million in funding, making Canela Media the most heavily funded Latina-owned company in the media industry. Rafferty Zavala said that her success is due, in part, to surrounding herself with people who elevate the company and share a common vision.

VAB CEO Sean Cunningham is also a leadership recipient.  He believes most advertising successes come when leaders allow young, bright people to go as far as they can as quickly as they can handle it. Cunningham said he has worked with many in the Hispanic space and being thought of as a peer leader to them gives him great personal satisfaction.

The final award for leadership is presented to Michael Roca, executive director of Omnicom Media Group’s cross-cultural center of excellence. He grew up in Queens as the child of Guatemalan parents. Roca said his mother is his inspiration in his career and influenced him to develop traits of humility, ambition and empathy.  He said programs like Sabado Gigante, Jorge Ramos and Betty la Fea were staples of his childhood.  This award represents the importance of positive representation in storytelling that can only be found in Hispanic TV and media, he said. 

The Hispanic Television Summit, programmed by Schramm Marketing Group during NYC TV Week, will be held at etc.Venues, 360 Madison Ave., New York. For more information, visit nyctvweek.com. 

With just one month to go before the 22nd Annual Hispanic Television Summit, new dynamic speakers like comedian, actor, writer and producer John Leguizamo are being added daily to the agenda for this leading annual event for those in the business of television for Hispanics in the U.S. and worldwide.  This year’s theme is in response to the growing demand for improved on-screen representation of Latino voices, images, and within storylines.  

Leguizamo’s session will focus on this point of how Latinos are reflected in television during a discussion about his new series American Historia, scheduled to premiere on PBS stations in September. Leguizamo is joined by producer Ben DeJesus of NGL Studios/mitu and Luis Ortiz, managing director of Latino Public Broadcasting.   

Other sessions include speakers who are TV journalists from English- and Spanish-language broadcast TV stations; while other sessions include media strategists from leading agencies including GroupM Multicultural, Horizon, Omnicom, Orci, and Zubi Advertising; marketing executives from Comcast, research experts from Nielsen, AIMM, Horowitz, and Altman Solon; programming development and programming distribution executives from Canela, Danger TV, Discovery, Condista, Mexicanal and V-me to name just a few. To view the live agenda, click here.

In addition, the Summit also features the presentation of the Annual Hispanic Television Awards honoring leaders and pioneers in Hispanic Television.  This year’s recipients include Chiqui Cartegena from CUNY TV, Javier Saralegui of Danger TV, Isabel Rafferty Zavala of Canela Media, Michael Roca from Omnicom, and Sean Cunningham from the VAB. 

The summit will be presented on Sept. 11 at etc.Venues, 360 Madison Ave. in New York, as part of Future’s NYC TV Week. 

The 21st Annual Hispanic Television Summit, programmed by Schramm Marketing Group during NYC TV Week, features a morning keynote interview with Beau Ferrari, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, parent of the Telemundo network. He will focus on the Hispanic market’s unparalleled potential as an economic growth catalyst and the force of this consumer group in today’s multicultural landscape. 

The summit is the premier event for those in the business of television for Hispanic audiences worldwide. It takes place Wednesday, September 13, at 360 Madison Ave. in New York. The summit explores ways that global and local distribution of culturally accurate TV programming is engaging Hispanic viewers and advertisers across platforms — from streaming to broadcast to traditional pay TV (satellite and cable).

The morning sessions focus on revenue from advertising and subscription, opening with a “state of the Hispanic media market” by the new chair of the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC), Isabella Sanchez of Zubi Advertising Services.

The morning continues with a panel discussion among leading media buyers from some of the Hispanic market’s highest-spending agencies, including Horizon Media, d’exposito & Partners and Omnicom Media’s Elevate. Up next is a fireside chat with an executive from T-Mobile, a leading consumer brand, about the cultural narrative in its ad creative, and another fireside chat with Comcast Cable’s multicultural marketing leader, Jose Velez Silva, and JP Rodriguez of Gallegos, the brand’s agency. The morning closes with the chairman’s keynote interview with NBCU Telemundo Enterprises’s Ferrari, on tapping into the economic power of Hispanics.

The midday program celebrates the accomplishments of the business’s pioneers and leaders with the presentation of the Annual Hispanic Television Awards (see sidebar).  The ceremony is followed by a celebratory lunch of traditional Caribbean and Mexican cuisines.

The afternoon opens with the Local Broadcaster’s keynote interview conversation with Jesus Lara, President of TelevisaUnivision Local Media. He will demonstrate the value of reaching Hispanics locally. The balance of the afternoon focuses on the business of programming for Hispanic TV audiences. One session spotlights different programming genres and another highlights program origination, featuring a popular series star, a producer and a streaming executive from Prime Video.  A session on viewer demand with Oswald Mendez from Canela Media and Javier Saralegui of Danger TV promises to spark energetic reactions.  

The final session is about distribution on linear and streaming platforms and is followed by a closing reception. 

ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez’s fascination with television news began during Hurricane Andrew.

“I remember I was 7 years old and I saw Hurricane Andrew moving through the community and I was hiding under the table because I was so scared,” Benitez, who grew up in Miami, said. “But I was realizing right away that everyone was so reliant on television news for information.”

Thirty years later, Benitez now works for ABC News as transportation correspondent, contributing stories to all ABC News platforms and programs, which include Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, 20/20, ABC News Radio and streaming network ABC News Live. He joined ABC in 2013, working as a general assignment correspondent before taking on transportation in 2020.

Benitez will deliver the opening keynote at September 14’s 20th anniversary Hispanic Television Summit, a one-day conference exploring how the industry is embracing Hispanic culture. It’s part of NYC Television Week, sponsored by B+C Multichannel News parent Future. The keynote, “How Network News Embraces Hispanic Culture,” will be moderated by Joe Schramm.

Benitez got his start at CBS station WFOR Miami. He was an Emma L. Bowen Foundation scholar with the work-study fellowship running from his senior year of high school to his graduation from Florida International University. WFOR hired him as an investigative producer out of college.

He fell into reporting at WFOR because he lost his iPhone while on vacation. While picking up the iPhone 3GS, Benitez’s boss Adrienne Roark (now president of CBS Stations) suggested he shoot a story on it.

“I go back to the station, I produce the story, I edit the story, and it gets on in our 5:30 news desk and it just goes absolutely crazy all over the internet,” Benitez said. “They were writing about us in China, South America, because we inadvertently had produced the very first piece for television, shot entirely with a phone.”

Benitez has been on-air ever since, winning three national and two regional Emmy Awards so far. He also recently had the chance to guest co-host GMA.

“It truly feels like a dream and an honor to be able to sit in that chair and have this conversation with America in the morning,” said Benitez, who has long been a fan of morning news, calling it “appointment viewing” for him growing up.

Benitez, whose parents came to the United States from Cuba when they were young, realized how important growing up in Miami was while covering the story of Arizona mom Yanira Maldonado for ABC News. Maldonado was being held in a Mexican jail accused of trafficking drugs and Benitez was able to go to Mexico and look at the evidence, which ultimately did not support the accusation against Maldonado.

“I reported that on TV, and I then was able to go on with one of our partners, Univision, and I was able to, in Spanish, report that same news and what I had seen on Noticiero Univision,” he said. “And that’s when I really saw the impact of growing up in a community like Miami. And that’s obviously something I didn’t realize while I was there. But afterwards I just thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, what an incredible lesson and opportunity that was to grow up there.’”

‘Oh, My Gosh’ Moments

Benitez has had other “oh, my gosh” moments throughout his career. Early on at ABC, he appeared on-screen with Diane Sawyer when she was still anchoring World News. “It was just mind-blowing for me as a young correspondent,” he said.

Broadcast legends Sawyer, David Muir and Robin Roberts were some of the reasons he was “obsessed with ABC News” in college. “I thought that they just did such incredible work telling these stories with heart and compassion,” he said.

Benitez attributes his success to that same compassion he saw in Sawyer, Muir and Roberts. “I do not treat interviews like interviews,” he said. “I try to treat them, interview subjects, as human beings, always, first and foremost. And I’ve done that since I was in local news all the way through now.”

Benitez, who now splits his time between New York and Washington, D.C., said he hopes Hispanic TV Summit attendees will see his story as part of their story.

“I hope that people realize that there is so much that we have done,” he said. “There’s so much that we can continue to do. But I hope that they are also inspired to keep going on whatever their journey is.” ▪️

Virtual Fall TV 2021 has ended but there’s still a way to enjoy all the content, for free, by registering here. 

The TV Tech Summit, Advanced Advertising, the Next TV Summit and the 19th Hispanic Television Summit convened during the week of Nov. 15. All sessions are available on demand in the conference hub after registering for free. 

Highlights included a top-level update on the state of addressable TV, in-the-news keynotes by top executives from Redbox and Fox Weather and a primer on how HBO targets Latinx viewers -- and that is just a sampling of the content produced by Future publications tv tech, B+C, Multichannel News, Next TV and our seasoned event producers. 

Also: Top Five TV Tech Summit Takeaways

If you are already registered and want to see events you might have missed, you can log into the conference hub with the credentials you received when you registered here. 

More information on the agenda, sponsors and available content is available at the main website www.FallTVEvents.com. ■

The Hispanic Marketing Council, pioneering Hispanic ad agency Alma, and Saturday night TV legend Don Francisco were three recipients of the Rafael Eli Awards at the Hispanic Television Summit, presented by Future’s Broadcasting+Cable, Multichannel News and Next TV and produced by Schramm Marketing Group. 

Also honored were Pluto TV, the Award for Corporate Leadership in Hispanic Television winner, and actress Ana de la Reguera as winner of the Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, Talent. Estrella TV talent competition show Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento was honored with the Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, TV Program or Series.

Now in its 19th year, the Summit, set for Nov. 18 and part of Future’s virtual Fall TV 2021 (Nov. 15-19) has become the most popular event of its kind. It’s a place where producers, programmers, researchers, marketers, brands, media buyers and investors meet with content providers from every platform.

A highlight of the Summit, this year a virtual event due to health and safety protocols, is the Hispanic Television & Video Awards. The program was expanded in 2020 to add the Rafael Eli Awards, three additional honors for organizations and individuals who are pioneers of Hispanic TV and named for Eli, one of the Summit’s two co-producers, who died in 2020 from COVID-19 complications. The event has been made available on-demand. 

The 19th annual Hispanic Television Summit also included keynote interviews, presentations and panel discussions with leading executives. Topics included media and ad sales, audience metrics, brand marketing, programming (with a focus on election coverage and news), audience promotion, subscription marketing and content distribution. 

Here‘s more on the 2021 Hispanic TV Summit Awards winners: 

Rafael Eli Award for Pioneer in Hispanic TV, Media and Publicity: HMC (Hispanic Marketing Council)

For the past 25 years, the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) has championed the Hispanic market in corporate boardrooms and advocated for increased investment in Hispanic marketing strategies — all while ensuring that experts with trusted Hispanic market expertise are at the forefront of the discussion. Through its collective thought leadership initiatives and groundbreaking research, it has helped marketers gain understanding of Hispanic consumers, and its member firms have helped them achieve market share, increase revenue and grow profits by reaching and connecting with them. The association has grown to represent more than 25,000 marketing, creative, research and media executives who have trusted and proven Hispanic marketing expertise.

HMC chair Gonzalo Del Fa will accept the award. Del Fa is also president of GroupM Multicultural, which handles $1 billion in billing from clients across all of the GroupM agencies: Mediacom, Wavemaker, Mindshare, Essence and mSix.  

Rafael Eli Award for Pioneer in Hispanic Television, Creative Agency: Alma

Alma’s team hails from 31 different nationalities, and together they have fueled exceptional business growth with creativity that has earned them 23 Cannes Lions and 7 Effie Awards, as well as numerous One Show, Clio, ANA, and New York Festival awards. Alma has been named to Ad Age’s prestigious A-List six times this decade and has earned “Agency of the Year” titles from El Ojo, El Sol, FIAP and USH Ideas, all while nurturing a culture of optimism, curiosity and collaboration from its offices in Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and Tallahassee.

“Diversity and inclusion, without addressing the marketplace from a more multicultural standpoint, may not be enough,” said Alma co-president and chief operating officer Isaac Mizrahi, whose agency works with the likes of Pepsi, McDonald’s and Netflix. “Conversely, multicultural marketing without diversity and inclusion may not happen as effectively as it could with a more diverse organization. The two go hand in hand, but they're not the same effort.”

Alma creative chairman and CEO Luis Miguel Messianu will accept the agency’s award.

Rafael Eli Award for Pioneer in Hispanic Television, Talent: Mario Kreutzberger, aka “Don Francisco,” Presenter, CNN en Español

Mario Kreutzberger, also known as Don Francisco, was born in Talca, Chile. He is the creator and star of Sabado Gigante, which ran from 1962 to 2015, airing on Univision in the U.S., and holds the Guinness World Record for being the longest-running TV variety program. 

Kreutzberger is widely recognized for his extensive travels around the world and his use of humor and wit to unify cultures through his entertainment platform. 

During his tenure at Canal 13 in Chile and both the Univision and Telemundo networks in the United States, he developed and hosted numerous fundraisers benefiting victims of natural disasters. Since 1978, his annual “TELETON” in Chile has funded 14 rehabilitation centers throughout the country and brought the needs of some 100,000 disabled children to the forefront. He is a UNICEF ambassador, a “Champion of Health” for the Pan-American Health Organization and a VP of the U.S. Muscular Dystrophy Association, which inspired him to create the Chile TELETON. 

Kreutzberger’s career has led to many honors, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Papal Benemenrenti medal from Pope John Paul II, membership in the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame in the U.S. and several honors in his native Chile. 

He’ll return to TV this year with Don Francisco: Reflections 2021 on CNN en Español, highlights from which can be seen here.

Award for Corporate Leadership in Hispanic Television, Platform or Provider: Pluto TV 

The Hispanic Television Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement is presented to individuals, programs or organizations in recognition of their career achievements that have raised the worldwide perception of, and respect for, the business of Hispanic Television. 

This year’s recipient, ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV, chose Cinco de Mayo to unveil an expanded and rebranded category of Spanish-language offerings tailored to U.S. Hispanics. The new Pluto TV en Español is a rebrand of Pluto TV Latino and now totals more than 45 Spanish-language channels, both linear and on-demand, across a variety of genres. "Our goal with Pluto TV en Español is to bring an authentic and artisan approach to the market," said Pluto TV en Español senior programming manager Cosette Molina, who noted that the specially-curated channels are "designed to reflect the rich tapestry that exists within the U.S. Hispanic community.”

Accepting the award will be Tom Ryan, president and CEO of streaming at ViacomCBS and cofounder and CEO of Pluto TV.

Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, Talent: Ana de la Reguera

Award-winning actress Ana de la Reguera is one of the most influential artists of this time. She most recently starred opposite Dave Bautista and Omari Hardwich in Zach Snyder’s blockbuster Netflix film, Army of the Dead, and led the cast of Universal’s The Forever Purge, the final installment of The Purge for franchise set on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

In 2019, she became a multi-hyphenate, creating and starring in her own series, Ana, one of only a handful of Latin actresses before her to have done so. The half-hour series, now in production on its second and third seasons, streams on Pantaya in the U.S. and runs on Amazon Prime Video and Comedy Central in Latin America. De la Reguera was named one of People en Español’s “25 Most Powerful Women of 2020.” 

Legacy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, TV Program or Series: ‘Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento,’ Estrella TV

EstrellaTV’s flagship talent competition series, Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento, kicked off its 25th season on Sept. 20. Mexican regional music superstar El Fantasma joined the panel of judges, which includes artist Ana Bárbara, producer and radio programmer Pepe Garza and radio host Don Cheto. Hosting the show is regional Mexican music artist Luis Coronel, with Christy Garza, a disc jockey from Estrella Media’s radio station La Raza in Houston, serving as the show’s DJ. Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento is the longest-running talent competition in U.S. Spanish-language television history and originates from EstrellaTV’s Burbank, California, studios. Thousands of contestants from the U.S. and Mexico audition for the series, ranging from musical artists to dancers, magicians, comedians and even ax throwers, all in the quest to be named the best new Latin entertainment star. Contestants receive special coaching sessions with some of Latin music’s hottest recording artists in the U.S. and Mexico. ■

Gonzalo Del Fa, president of Group M Multicultural and chairman of the Culture Marketing Council (CMC), delivered the opening address at the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit on Tuesday (Sept. 22), declaring that “total market is totally dead.”

His comment about the previously popular media strategy, in which messages targeted to diverse audience segments were an inherent part of marketing communications, provided energy to his challenge for change within the multicultural marketing and media industry. 

He said, “one size does not fit all. Multicultural consumers want to watch content created by their community and for their community.”

Del Fa also addressed how the impact of current events like COVID-19, and the increase of violence, racism and hate, have shifted how brands communicate with their consumers. He said the industry needs to “evolve from where we are, to where we need to be,” in reference to an “emerging sense of a need for diversity in the work force … that there is a call to not just think about it, but to actually do it, and do it now.” 

He added that companies that do not have a diverse work force cannot understand why diversity marketing is important. In his perspective, they are missing the opportunity to tap different voices and to bring a different perspective to their advertising message.

Regarding the effect of the COVID shutdown on media budgets, Del Fa said, “I was afraid what was going to happen was what usually happens, that multicultural media budgets get cut first.” But he was surprised. When COVID started, all budgets were cut, not just multicultural. He added “this is a good sign that we are all rethinking how to plan to spend.”

Del Fa emphasized that “if a company truly believes in inclusion, it should then be a corporate requirement to have a multicultural marketing plan and budget.”

The conversation of multicultural media continued with a session moderated by Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) CEO Sean Cunningham, who opened with a presentation of findings from the organization’s study of video ad campaigns targeted to Hispanics. The study effectively proved the points made by Del Fa.

Cunningham said, “we wanted to see if brands that use cultural messaging in their advertising see a positive reaction from the Hispanic market, and then does this reaction result in sales?”

The VAB study reviewed 3,300 video ads, from 50 major consumer brands, and came up with 20 case histories. 

One history that Cunningham shared featured the Toyota RAV4, which had a $22.6-million Hispanic ad spend over four years, featuring 13 different culturally targeted ad spots that generated a 42% increase in sales and over 100,000 units sold in the Hispanic market. He encouraged attendees to log in to the VAB website to review the full report.

During the panel discussion that followed, Glenda Villanueva-Marchetta, Multicultural Lead, from Altice’s A4 Advertising, shared that Hispanics currently comprise the single largest spending consumer group at $978 billion in 2020 and expected to grow to $2.3 trillion by 2024. She emphasized the opportunity presented by the market by saying “it’s just nuts if you are not spending in the Hispanic market.”

Another panelist, Steve Mandala, Univision’s president of Ad Sales and Marketing, commented that he sees a “new energy in the last four months reflected by the opportunity to directly reach top decision makers at leading brands.” 

Sandra Alfaro, executive VP and managing partner at 305 Worldwide, added, “from the agency perspective there’s a growing interest by advertisers to be culturally responsible and relevant. They are recognizing that youthful Hispanic consumers have Influence that goes beyond buying power, to innovation.”

Mandala concluded by saying “There’s a pattern here. Whenever brands have a realistic recognizable consistent commitment … they see outstanding results.”

How the pandemic impacted TV viewing among Hispanics was a topic that Romina Rosado, the senior VP of entertainment and content for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, addressed during her keynote interview conducted by R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News Thursday (Sept. 24) at the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit.

Rosado, who moved to Telemundo in Miami from E! News in Los Angeles two years ago "to really drive the Hispanic strategy forward," as she said, pointed out the impact of COVID-19 has meant that everyone in a household was at home at the same time, and they had more available time to watch TV together. “We saw an increase in family co-viewing,” said Rosado, who sees the changing appetite among Hispanic audience segments to be shifting toward a desire to watch more fun and family-oriented content. She continued, “Viewers sought out programming that was not too violent. We discovered they were drawn to our popular competition weeknight program, Exactlon.”   

The pandemic also impacted the schedule. Production was shut down in some of the countries where Telemundo’s content is produced. For example, the new reality competition series El Domo del Dinero was expected to launch months ago but production was stopped to adjust for social distancing. The program will now launch in the coming weeks. Similarly, the Billboard Latin Music Awards, usually presented in April, were moved to October.

One of her goals, she said, is to achieve “diversity in the team, and diversity on the screen.” She continued, “Representing the diversity within the Hispanic community is critical. We have already achieved a 50%-plus gender balance in favor of women.” She also spoke about Telemundo’s focus on news coverage of the November election as well as the network’s community efforts to drive voter registration among Latino youth and encouraging viewers to complete the census. 

Rosado’s interview was on Day 4 of this year’s virtual presentation of the Hispanic Television Summit. The summit was presented by Future plc's Media Entertainment Group Broadcasting+Cable, Multichannel News and Next TV and produced by Schramm Marketing Group. The summit was presented over four days, Sept. 21-24, with daily 90-minute segments. All sessions are available on demand. Simply register for the Hispanic Television Summit, free of charge as a single track of the Fall TV 2020 events series, which continues with the Streaming TV Summit and Audience Measurement Summit. More at www.falltvevents.com.

The annual Hispanic Television Summit kicked off Monday with the Hispanic TV and Video Awards. The legacy award is for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, presented by Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News. This year’s recipient was Diego Luna, an actor, director and producer for theater, film, and television. Since 2018, he has starred as drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo in the wildly popular Netflix hit TV series, Narcos: Mexico. The Mexican born Luna is also known to audiences for his major film roles including that of Cassian Andor in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  

Each year, this award acknowledges one individual or series for their contribution to the growth of the Hispanic television industry, including driving the employment of Latino talent in front and behind the camera. Luna was recognized for his remarkable career as a television actor, director and producer.  

Luna started his career as a child actor in telenovelas with the encouragement of his father. He first came to the attention of U.S. and international audiences in 2001 with his role in the hit Spanish-language sex farce dramedy film Y tu mamá también.  He has appeared in over thirty films since including Vampires: Los Muertos which also starred rocker, Jon Bon Jovi, and the Oscar-winning Frida, as well as The Terminal, Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing 2, and the critically acclaimed Milk to name a few.

Most recently, Luna and his production company introduced a new series, currently available on Amazon Prime Video entitled Pan and Circo. The series offers insightful group conversations over a meal, including scientists, innovators, activists, and artists. The conversations are led by Luna himself, that focus on current or controversial topics and social problems from violence, to immigration to abortion to racism to COVID. 

“I am thrilled to receive this honor, especially in times like these,” said Luna. He added, “I am eager to continue to introduce many new important projects which will create positive change in society.” Luna joins a list of distinguished prior recipients of this award including the “golden boy” champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya, soccer sportscaster Andres Cantor, news anchors Jose Diaz Balart, Maria Celeste Arraras, Jorge Ramos, and Maria Elena Salinas, show hosts Don Francisco, Cristina Saralegui, Lili Estefan, and Raul De Molina, telenovela stars Lucero and Rafael Amaya and the cast of TUDN’s Republica Deportiva, among others.

The award was presented to him Monday, on behalf of Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, by his close creative associate, Isaac Lee, the Chairman of Exile Content during the Annual Hispanic Television and Video Awards Ceremony. The awards ceremony was virtual and can now be seen online for free. The awards ceremony is just one of four daily virtual segments of the 18th Annual Hispanic Television Summit. The daily programs are between 60 and 90 minutes daily. The remaining days are Tuesday, Sept. 22 through Thursday, Sept. 24. 

For more information and to register for free, please go www.falltvevents.com/2020/HispanicTV. 

The 18th Annual Hispanic Television Summit kicked off Monday with a virtual ceremony celebrating the leadership within the Hispanic television industry.

The Hispanic TV and Video Awards ceremony was hosted by Univision’s Pamela Silva, host of Primer Impacto and Luis Sandoval, the West Coast correspondent for Despierta America.

The CultureX Leadership Award was the first award presented and it went to Mexican-born Julio Vaqueiro, the anchor of Noticias Telemundo Edición Especial. The experienced Emmy-winning journalist recently shared that he credits his youthful appearance for his first job in television. 

“The station was looking for someone young, and thought I was much younger than I was,” said Vaqueiro. “Lucky for me I still don’t look my real age.”  

Vaquiero was recognized with the award for his leadership in covering major breaking stories of importance to Latino audiences, like the on-going strife at the U.S.-Mexico border, and for his many exclusive one-on-one interviews with many U.S. candidates, and world leaders. When asked who was on his wish list, he added, “I would still like to interview the Pope.”

Two businesses were recognized with the corporate leadership award. Charter was recognized for their ongoing commitment to serving Hispanic customers, and Castalia was honored for over 20 years of distributing a variety of Spanish language programming services to Latino audiences and especially for the creation of Mexicanal, the channel they created for serving the special interests of Mexican viewers in the U.S.

Tom Montemagno, the executive VP of programming acquisition for Charter, accepted the award on behalf of his colleagues. Charter provides its services in 20 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets making its programming and internet available to 10 million Hispanic households. The award recognized the company for their efforts to continue to provide information and entertainment to their Latino customers, as noted by the recent addition to their line-up of five new channels targeting Latinos.

In his comments, Montemagno mentioned that the company takes serving diverse customers seriously as reflected by 47% of their workforce. He closed by acknowledging Charter’s Multicultural Marketing division for “helping the entire company to better understand our Hispanic communities.”

Catalia’s award was accepted by their founder and president, Luis-Torres Bohl. The company, which negotiates the distribution of networks targeting Hispanics and Native Americans, was recognized for their many years of service to cable and satellite, and now connected TV providers. One of the networks, Mexicanal, was started 15 years ago by Torres-Bohl, specifically to fill the gap of providing traditional Mexican television content to the many Mexican residents in the U.S.  

Bohl mentioned, “I founded the business to make a difference in the lives of the many Latinos in the U.S. who crave something familiar.” He stressed the importance of television to Latinos and to each other is key to better understanding of diversity in our country.

Two additional awards recognized executive leadership. Karina Dobarro of Horizon Media was honored for her outstanding career and commitment to media investments within Hispanic television. She mentioned that she assures her clients that they are well-served to consider investing in programming specifically targeted to Latino audiences.

A second executive recognized for his many years of leadership in Hispanic television was Juan Carlos Rodriguez, president of Univision Sports. He was lauded for leading the dynamic team of sports reporting at Univision and for positioning the sports brand, TUDN, as the home of soccer in the U.S. through the acquisition of exclusive Spanish-language media rights to many of the most popular teams and properties. Under his leadership, TUDN has become the country’s most-watched Spanish-language sports network. 

The Rafael Eli Pioneer in Hispanic Television Award was introduced by a tribute video narrated by talk show legend, Cristina Saralegui which honored the life of the late Rafael Eli, a co-producer of the Hispanic Television Summit. The first class of this award was presented in three categories: media, creative and talent, and were presented to Gene Bryan of Hispanic Media Sales, the creative team at agency d’exposito and Partners, and Andres Cantor, Telemundo’s voice of soccer.    

The Award for Outstanding Achievement closed the ceremony and was presented by Isaac Lee, founder of Exile Content to his business associate Diego Luna. Luna is the popular actor, director, producer who most recently starred in Netflix’s popular series, Narcos: Mexico. 

The Hispanic Television Summit continues through Thursday.

The legacy award of the annual Hispanic Television Summit is the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television, presented by B+C and Multichannel News. This year’s recipient is Diego Luna, an actor, director and producer for theater, film and television.  

Each year, the Award for Outstanding Achievement acknowledges an individual or series for their contribution to the growth of the industry, including driving the employment of Latino talent in front of and behind the camera. Luna is being recognized for his remarkable television career.  

Since 2018, Luna has starred as drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo in the hit Netflix series Narcos: Mexico. The Mexican-born Luna is also known to audiences for his major film roles, including Cassian Andor in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  

Luna started his career as a child actor in telenovelas with the encouragement of his father. He first came to the attention of U.S. and international audiences in 2001 with his role in the hit Spanish-language sex farce dramedy film Y Tu Mamá También. He has appeared in more than 30 films since then, including Vampires: Los Muertos, which also starred rocker Jon Bon Jovi, and the Oscar-winning Frida, as well as The Terminal, Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing 2 and the critically acclaimed Milk.

Most recently, Luna and his production company introduced Pan and Circo, a new series available on Amazon Prime Video. The series offers insightful group conversations over a meal, involving scientists, innovators, activists and artists. The conversations are led by Luna himself, and focus on current or controversial topics and social problems from violence, to immigration to abortion to racism to COVID. 

“I am thrilled to receive this honor,” Luna said. “I am anxious to continue to introduce many new important projects to create positive change in society.”  

Luna joins a list of distinguished prior recipients of this award including boxing’s “Golden Boy,” champion Oscar De La Hoya; soccer sportscaster Andrés Cantor; news anchors José Díaz-Balart, María Celeste Arrarás, Jorge Ramos and María Elena Salinas; show hosts Don Francisco, Cristina Saralegui, Lili Estefan and Raúl De Molina; telenovela stars Lucero and Rafael Amaya; and the cast of TUDN’s Republica Deportiva, among others.

Presenting the award will be his close creative associate, Isaac Lee, the founder and chairman of Exile Content. The Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony is virtual and can be seen online for free on Monday, Sept. 21, starting at noon. It’s one of four daily segments of the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit.

Karina Dobarro, senior VP, managing director, Multicultural & International Brand Strategy at Horizon Media, will be honored with this year’s award for Executive Leadership in Hispanic Television and Video.  

Dobarro will accept her award, presented by B+C and Multichannel News, during the annual Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony.

The award recognizes Dobarro for her professional contributions as a “media decision-maker” responsible for increasing and sustaining media commitments through Horizon’s multicultural practice, which she built over the past six years.  The practice supports nearly 30 brands. 

“My job brings me great personal satisfaction,” Dobarro said. “I see our team’s role not only as strategic advisers but as advocates of Hispanic consumers and media. I believe in collaboration and partnership. I believe together, we are stronger.”

Upon learning that she was selected, Dobarro said, “I’m honored. This recognition reinforces the work our Horizon Multicultural team does to advance Hispanic marketing and inclusive media practices.”  

Dobarro has had an admirable career.  She was initially hired to build the multicultural practice and was given the added opportunity to lead the international network relationship. 

She also developed the business plan for a new entity that became 305 Worldwide, Horizon’s multicultural content and creative agency. 

Today, Dobarro also leads an agency-wide effort called “Project Embrace” to advance inclusive media practices by empowering employees with new diversity training and tools.  

“The racial justice movement has brought light to the lack of diverse talent and inclusive practices within the advertising industry,” Dobarro said. “We see a shift where minority segments are at the forefront of  marketing conversations.”  

“I am hopeful that this is not just a trend, but a true movement for
our advertising industry,” she added.

 The honorees in the first Rafael Eli Pioneer in Hispanic TV Awards class recently shared their thoughts about what the honor means to them personally, and reflected on the man for whom the award is named.  

Rafael Eli was the co-producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit
and a partner at Schramm Marketing Group. He lost his battle with COVID-19 on April 16. He will be remembered on Sept. 21 during the Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony, which kicks off with a memorial video about Eli’s career narrated by Cristina Saralegui, the Spanish-language talk show legend. 

The Rafael Eli awards are presented in three different categories — media, creativity and talent — by Multichannel News and B+C in recognition of individuals who are pioneers in the Hispanic TV industry. The recipients this year knew Eli personally. They are: Andres Cantor, sports commentator for Telemundo Deportes (talent); Gene Bryan, publisher of HispanicAd.com and CEO of Hispanic Media (media); and the team of executives at d expósito & Partners (creativity), including Daisy Expósito-Ulla, chairman and CEO; Jorge Ulla, partner, chief ideation officer; Gloria Constanza, partner, chief contact strategist; Fernando Fernandez, partner, chief client officer; John Ross, partner, chief financial officer; Louis Maldonado, partner, managing director; and Paco Olavarrieta, chief creative officer.     

Andrés Cantor: ‘Voice of Soccer’

Andrés Cantor is Telemundo’s Emmy Award-winning voice of soccer, and a veteran television sportscaster, widely known to U.S. fans in both Spanish and English. Originally from Argentina, Cantor got his start while still in high school as a U.S.-based contributing reporter for what was then Argentina’s most popular sports magazine. In the 1980s, at his first television audition, he was required to conduct a live sportscast. The station owner was so impressed with his soccer knowledge and his enthusiastic play by play that he was hired on the spot. 

Cantor’s recognizable, long-winded “gooool” made its TV debut shortly there­after. Today, Andrés Cantor is the most recognized voice of soccer in the country and has been featured on multiple TV shows, including a recurring role as himself on The Simpsons.  

“I was introduced to Rafael Eli when he was at AT&T and involved with their sponsorship of Major League Soccer,” Cantor said. “Later, I worked directly with him when he was at Schramm, and promoting international soccer matches. I am honored to get this award named for Rafael. It seems appropriate. He was a pioneer in soccer marketing, and I am being recognized as a pioneer of soccer television.”

Gene Bryan: Ad Maven

Gene Bryan had already had a long career in Hispanic radio and TV media sales when, in 1998, he founded HispanicAd.com, a leading digital publication serving executives in the Hispanic brand advertising and media business. “Rafael and I both attended high school in Puerto Rico,” Bryan said. “We had that in common, and our relationship grew from there.” 

Bryan has had a 20-plus year commitment to the growth of Hispanic media. He and HispanicAd.com have been strong supporters of the Hispanic Television Summit since the Summit’s first year.  “Rafael es mi hermano; he’s like my brother,” Bryan said. “He would always call to get my suggestions for speakers and the next set of award recipients at the Summit. I am humbled.”  

Agency Pioneers   

The team at  d expósito & Partners  had worked with Eli starting in 1994 when he first joined AT&T in the Hispanic marketing division. They were then AT&T’s Hispanic agency as part of Y&R’s Bravo Group. “Rafael made us all better — at what we do, and how we work as a team,” Daisy Expósito-Ulla said. “He was someone who respected and nurtured creative ideas, and he was a heck of a lot of fun to work with.”  

Partner Gloria Constanza mentioned that Rafael was always focused on innovations in television programming for Hispanics, whether it was the launch of Major League Soccer or championship boxing. He “was passionate and committed to the Hispanic fan and often spoke about VOD way back” before it was widely available, she said. 

The group of seven recipients from
d expósito & Partners are unique. They have worked together for more than 20 years and have earned a reputation as an award-winning team that serves some of the leading brands in the Hispanic market, including AARP, McDonald’s and the U.S. Army.

The Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony, which includes the presentation of The Rafael Eli awards, is hosted by two leading on-air personalities, Pamela Silva, anchor of Univision’s Primer Impacto, and Luis Sandoval, West Coast correspondent for Univision’s ¡Despierta América! The ceremony is scheduled to start at noon ET on Day 1 of the four-day “virtual” presentation of the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit.  

This year’s Summit is being offered free of charge for the first time.  To learn more, go to FallTVevents.com.

Joe Schramm is president of Schramm Marketing Group and producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit.

The honorees in the first class to receive the Rafael Eli Pioneer in Hispanic TV Award have shared their thoughts about what the award means to them personally, and reflections of the man for whom the award is named.  

Rafael Eli was the co-producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit and a partner at Schramm Marketing Group. He lost his battle with coronavirus in April. He will be remembered on Monday, Sept. 21, during the Hispanic Television & Video Awards ceremony during this year’s virtual version of the summit. The ceremony kicks-off with a memorial video about Rafael Eli’s career, narrated by Cristina Saralegui, the Spanish-language talk show legend. 

Rafael Eli, Hispanic TV Pioneer, Dies of Covid Pneumonia

The summit is a keystone event in Fall TV 2020, a series of virtual events that kicked off Sept. 8 with the News Tech Summit and continues until Oct. 2. Other events during this period are the Advanced Advertising, Streaming TV and Audience Measurement summits. For more please visit the Fall TV 2020 site.

The Rafael Eli awards are presented in three different categories -- media, creativity and talent -- by Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News in recognition of individuals who are pioneers in the Hispanic TV industry. The recipients this year had personally known Rafael. They are Andrés Cantor, sports commentator for Telemundo Deportes (talent); Gene Bryan, publisher of HispanicAd.com and CEO of Hispanic Media Inc. (media); and the team of executives at d expósito & Partners (creativity), including Daisy Exposito-Ulla, chairman, CEO; Jorge Ulla, partner, chief ideation officer; Gloria Constanza, partner, chief contact strategist; Fernando Fernandez, partner, chief client officer; John Ross, partner, chief financial officer; Louis Maldonado, partner, managing director; and Paco Olavarrieta, chief creative officer.

Andrés Cantor is Telemundo’s Emmy award-winning voice of soccer, and a veteran television sportscaster, widely known to U.S. fans in both Spanish and English. Originally from Argentina, Cantor got his start while still in high school as a U.S.-based contributing reporter for what was then Argentina’s most popular sports magazine. In the 1980s, at his first television audition, he was required to conduct a live sportscast. The station owner was so impressed with his soccer knowledge, and his enthusiastically inspired “play-by-play,” that he was hired on the spot. Cantor’s recognizable, long-winded “gooooal” made its TV debut shortly thereafter. Today, Andres Cantor is the most recognized voice of soccer in the country and has been featured on multiple TV shows, including a recurring role as himself on The Simpsons.

“I was introduced to Rafael Eli when he was at AT&T and involved with their sponsorship of Major League Soccer. Later, I worked directly with him when he was at Schramm, and promoting international soccer matches,” Cantor said. “I am honored get this award named for Rafael. It seems appropriate. He was a pioneer in soccer marketing, and I am being recognized as a pioneer of soccer television.”

Gene Bryan had already had a long career in Hispanic radio and TVmedia sales when, in 1998, he founded HispanicAd.com, a leading digital publication serving executives in the Hispanic brand advertising and media business. “Rafael and I both attended high school in Puerto Rico.  We had that in common, and our relationship grew from there,” Bryan said. He has had a 20-plus-year commitment to the growth of Hispanic media. He and Hispanicad.com have been strong supporters of the Hispanic Television Summit since the summit’s first year. Bryan continued, “Rafael es mi hermano, he’s like my brother. He would always call to get my suggestions for speakers and the next set of award recipients at the summit.” He added simply, “I am humbled.” 

The team at d expósito & Partners had worked with Rafael starting in 1994 when he first joined AT&T in the Hispanic marketing division. The team then was AT&T’s Hispanic agency as part of Y&R’s Bravo Group. “Rafael made us all better – at what we do, and how we work as a team,” said Daisy Expósito-Ulla. “He was someone who respected and nurtured creative ideas, and he was a heck of a lot of fun to work with.” Her husband and partner, Jorge Ulla, added: “Rafael did what he loved to do.” Their partner, Gloria Constanza, mentioned that Rafael was always focused on innovations in television programming for Hispanics, whether it was the launch of MLS or championship boxing. He “was passionate and committed to the Hispanic fan and often spoke about VOD way back” before it was widely available. The seven recipients from d expósito are unique. They have worked together for over 20 years and have earned a reputation as an award-winning team serving some of the leading brands in the Hispanic market, including AARP, McDonald’s and the U.S. Army to name a few.

The Hispanic Television & Video Awards ceremony, which includes the presentation of The Rafael Eli awards, will be hosted by two leading on-air personalities: Pamela Silva, co-anchor, Primer Impacto, and co-host of Univision’s Aqui y Ahora, and Luis Sandoval, West Coast correspondent for Univision’s ¡Despierta América!. The ceremony is scheduled to start at 12 noon E.T on Day 1 of the four-day “virtual” presentation of the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit. This year’s summit is being offered free of charge (as a single track in the Fall TV Events lineup) for the first time. To learn more about this year’s event, go to www.FallTVevents.com

Contributed by Joe Schramm, president of Schramm Marketing Group and producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit.

Peter Blacker, executive vice president of revenue strategy and innovation at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, readily admits that getting companies to focus on the burgeoning Hispanic market often requires a lot of creative thinking.

This was particularly apparent in digital media, where he has spent much of his career. After working at StarMedia, which operated the first Spanish- and Portuguese-language portal in the late 1990s, Blacker joined AOL Time Warner to work on AOL’s international businesses.

“While on a flight back from Japan, I suddenly realized we weren’t doing anything for the U.S. Hispanic market,” Blacker recalled. “It was such a big market, but we weren’t doing anything.”

That idea, which led to the launch of the AOL Latino portal to target U.S. Hispanics in 2003, is one of many pioneering efforts by Blacker to build new digital businesses targeted to Latino consumers.

Those efforts, which have earned Blacker the Award for Executive Leadership in Hispanic Television and Video, are particularly important for Telemundo. Blacker joined the broadcast network in 2005 to lead its expansion into digital media and in 2018 was promoted to his current role overseeing revenue strategy and innovation at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

No More Faxes

Much of Blacker’s success grows from a longtime fascination with Spanish-language culture and media. Blacker fondly recalled growing up in a family where both his father and mother worked in media. “My parents actually met working at Time Inc., and a lot of the talk at the dinner table was filled with media chatter,” he recalled.

Like many kids, Blacker didn’t want to follow in his parents’ footsteps, so he studied Spanish at Cornell. “But after doing a year abroad in Spain, I decided I’d use my Spanish in media,” he said. “I still remember going to my first media conference and seeing my dad’s name tag on the registration table. Mine was right next to it, only in Spanish.”

Blacker also recalls the exact moment when he became smitten with digital media. In 1999, while working at the cable network CBS Telenoticias, one of his clients demonstrated how email worked. “I sent back to the office and proclaimed, ‘I’m not using fax anymore,’ ” he laughed.

Work in the late 1990s and early 2000s at StarMedia and AOL led Telemundo to hire him to spearhead its internet charge as vice president of digital media and emerging businesses.

Early on, it was often hard to pry money out of sponsors’ ad budgets, even though Hispanic consumers skew younger and have long been more avid users of mobile and digital media than the general market.

“My second job out of college was in banking as a media analyst, so I’ve always been very focused on numbers,” he said. “While it may have been difficult to get people’s attention, I found that once I started to show the business case and the numbers, they could see the opportunity.”

Another major focus: Find sponsors for new digital offerings that would be tied to Telemundo’s extensive production and programming. “One of the first big things I wanted to do was to get our linear programming to somehow be involved with digital activities,” Blacker said.

In 2008, Blacker brokered a deal with Sprint to sponsor a mobile product that would let viewers decide on the outcome of a primetime show. “I always believed that to do digital well, we had to do it in a partnership with advertisers,” Blacker said.

Blacker also cut pioneering partnerships with a wide variety of digital media companies. “We were one of the first and one of the most successful partnerships at YouTube,” Blacker said. “We have seven different channels that have over 1 million subs with YouTube, which is really unheard of.”

Other innovative ventures include: the launch of the multicultural studio Fluency; the creation of Latinx Now!, which covers the multicultural entertainment scene with both an English and Spanish program; the recent announcement that Telemundo would join top news brands like NBC News and the BBC to produce news programming for the mobile SVOD service Quibi; and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where Blacker’s team was responsible for the mobile and digital experiences. (Telemundo is the event’s U.S. Spanish-language media rightsholder.)

“Having a flawless technological experience and seeing your app being No. 1 in the App Store every day of the World Cup was very rewarding for me and the phenomenal team I work with,” he said.

Those successes led to his promotion to a nearly created post overseeing strategy for all of Telemundo’s revenue streams. “We are looking at how we can future-proof our business in a world where there is not only a tremendous opportunity within streaming but also incredible lines of new business,” Blacker said.

A big advantage Telemundo has in that regard are the investments parent Comcast has made in the broadcaster’s original programming and facilities, Blacker said.

“We really have a heavy focus on original programing,” Blacker said. “That gives us the ability to move very quickly with digital properties” and joint ventures such as Peacock, the planned SVOD service from NBCUniversal that will include extensive Telemundo programming.

Comcast has also invested heavily in new facilities like the Telemundo Production Center in Florida that play a key role in its digital efforts. “With the facilities we have, we can easily produce multiple versions of shows very quickly and much more efficiently,” he said.

The television and film industries have begun to recognize the value and appeal of Hispanic television, but executives speaking at the Hispanic TV Summit say that there needs to be a greater Hispanic presence both in front of and behind the camera.

“When I go into a room and hear people talk about diversity, I’m not interested in it being some kind of pro-social [effort]; it makes total business sense,” said Ben DeJesus, president of production company NGL Studios, speaking at Thursday's Hispanic TV Summit. “I think we are the mainstream at this point, but we just want to play in the big arena.”

Jaime Davila, president and co-founder of Campanario Entertainment, said that the industry is actively looking for stories featuring Latino images, but it’s still an uphill battle to get such stories greenlit to series and on the air.

“The broadcast networks actually want to tell those stories,” he said. “It’s still really hard to sell these shows … but I will say that they do care about diverse storylines.”

Even with the unprecedented number of scripted programming offered on broadcast and cable networks, there’s still a dearth of Hispanic-themed content available for Hispanic viewers, which make up a significant part of the total viewing audience, according to Davila.

“Everybody in Hollywood talks about peak TV and there’s too much TV, but for all of those thousands of shows, I can count on my hand how many are Hispanic shows," including Starz's Vida and Netflix's One Day At A Time, he said.

In order to alter the dynamics of what is developed and distributed across the television landscape, Noticias Telemundo senior vice president of digital Romina Rosado believes that there needs to be more Hispanic executives in decision-making positions.

“Right now the decision makers are mostly middle-aged white guys, so there needs to be  more diversity behind the camera where the power is … that’s where we need to focus on,” she said.

Added La Calle TV CEO Jorge Viera: “Everybody has a story of success in the Hispanic community so we have to address … how to get those stories out.” 

New York -- While advertisers may focus on digital content to attract younger viewers, a panel of top executives claimed that for the Hispanic market, traditional TV still has a big impact.

At a panel session entitled, "New Directions in Media, Placement and Research," at the Multichannel News/B&C Hispanic TV Summit here, Univision president of advertising sales and marketing Steve Mandala said that too often, networks get bogged down in trying to cater to cater to individual tastes.

"Everyone is different," Mandala said. "Ironically, most of us are involved in mass media. We're our own worst enemies. It's still about getting the largest audience possible."

He pointed out that the average age of the Hispanic TV audience is 36 years old, compared to 58 years old for the top English language broadcaster.

"You can target younger viewers through Spanish language TV," Mandala said. "This is not CBS."

Data obviously is playing a key role in how advertisers target audiences, and Horizon SVP Multicultural Karina Dobarro said that for those looking to capture younger viewers, digital content is still the first stop. But she added that content has to be reflective of who those viewers are.

"We're not looking at daypart planning, but content planning,” Dobarro said, adding that there is still room for TV, but lower ratings and viewership can't be ignored.

"Everything we do is informed by data," she said. "How the audience relates to a brand rating, that data will drive how the dollars are going toward or away from Hispanic TV."

Group M Multicultural president Gonzalo Del Fa said while digital is important to finding younger audience, he agreed that a multi-pronged strategy using several types of media, including Spanish language TV, Facebook, Google or Pandora to reach audiences is best. He added that what we call traditional TV today can take many forms.

"What we used to call TV, it's a device that we may or may not watch, the content it produces lives in different places," Del Fa said. "It doesn't mean it has to be on a TV set, it might be on an iPad or a phone. I think we are moving away from, 'Do you buy TV,' to 'What kind of TV do you buy.'"

Mandala added that Univision uses data to track consumer behaviors, but added that most important is that all participants are on the same page when they are talking about targeted advertising and the information behind it. That is one of the reasons Univision joined industry consortium OpenAP, he said. 

"Everyone talks about data and what do, but the challenge is we don't have common vernacular," Mandala said. "Every company talks about it in different way. We will not be able to do this on mass level unless have common vernacular.”

The United States soccer team’s shocking elimination from the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament hasn’t dampened NBCUniversal’s projections for a record-breaking tournament performance on Telemundo, according to company executives.

“I think the 2018 World Cup will be the most consumed event in Spanish-language history in the United States,” said Jim Bell, president of NBC Olympics Production & Programming and executive producer, Telemundo World Cup, who spoke last Thursday at the Hispanic TV Summit during a panel titled “Trends in FIFA World Cup Coverage.”

Read More: Complete Coverage of the Hispanic Television Summit

While Telemundo -- which holds the Spanish-language television rights to the 2018, 2022 and 2026 World Cup tournaments -- will miss the U.S. men’s soccer team’s World Cup presence, Bell said that the network’s majority Hispanic audience will be tuning in to watch the breadth and depth of the network’s multi-platform coverage.

“It’s disappointing not to have the US in it, but if you look at it from a numbers standpoint, there’s 64 games in the World Cup and you’re counting on maybe three US games,” he said.

Added Lauren Molen, executive vice president of advertising sales, Lifestyle Group and Telemundo Enterprises for NBCUniversal: “Our audience is really hungry and passionate about soccer, and while none of us are happy about the US, we are thrilled to have fans that love the whole [World Cup experience].”

Read More: Complete Coverage of #NYCTVWK

While too early to discuss specific World Cup advertiser deals, Molen said companies are responding favorably to the company’s World Cup pitch.

“The World Cup itself is the premium event in Spanish language television, and attracts a consumer base that can help amplify their marketing messages and sell their product in so many key categories,” she said.

Eli Velazquez, executive vice president of programming production and content for Telemundo Deportes, said soccer fans are already anticipating the Dec. 1 World Cup draw which will set the matchups for the tournament. “The drama created by the draw dovetails into the drama of the event itself,” he said.

NEW YORK — Altice USA has been both a trailblazer and a visionary in providing the local and national Hispanic community access to Spanish-language news and entertainment, as well as providing innovative packaging of video and high-speed-data products.

The MSO will receive the award for Corporate Leadership in Hispanic Television & Video during the luncheon awards ceremony at the 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, to be held on Oct. 19, 12:30-2 p.m., at the Sheraton New York Hotel.

Related: The Hispanic TV Summit Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic TV > Rafael Amaya: Lord of the Ratings| Executive Leadership > Gonzalo Del Fa: Change Agent

At its former Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications systems — Altice purchased those companies in 2016 and 2015, respectively — the cable operator is continuing the tradition of service and commitment to the Hispanic community, which makes up a large segment of its customers.

The MSO's Optimum unit passes large Hispanic communities in the Greater New York City area, including the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn, parts of New Jersey and Long Island; Suddenlink operates in parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas with significant Hispanic populations.

As Altice USA, the company’s commitment to the Hispanic community is expanding. In the coming weeks it plans to introduce new Spanish-language TV packages — including music, movies, kids and lifestyle programming — for Optimum and Suddenlink customers that better cater to the Spanish-language populations it serves, particularly in the New York Tri-State Area and the southwestern portion of the country.

For Optimum customers, the refreshed Optimum en Español package will offer more than 50 Spanish-language channels, starting at $12.95 per month for subscribers to Optimum Value and above. Suddenlink’s updated Conexión Única package will include more than 30 Spanish-language channels, starting at $10 per month. More details, including the new channel additions, will be made available in the coming weeks.

Hispanic TV Strategies:New Tech Joins Battle for Hispanic Subscribers|OTT Players Look to Latinos

On the phone and broadband front, the cable operator also offers a variety of bundles that feature Spanish-language programming as well as other services, including international calling and a new low-priced high-speed internet service, called Economy Internet, available to eligible households in both the Optimum and Suddenlink footprints for $14.99 per month. Details of the product are available in both Spanish and English at geteconomyinternet.com.

In its Optimum system, Altice USA offers more than 1,000 hours of Spanish-language video on demand programming each month, with content from many Spanish-language channels also available for out-of-home viewing.

Altice USA’s parent Altice N.V. has operations in the Dominican Republic, and is one of the main telecom service providers in that country bringing mobile and fixed residential and business services to more than 4.8 million customers.

Altice USA continues to offer a variety of Spanish-language and bilingual marketing campaigns. The company recently launched an advertising campaign featuring soccer superstar and Altice ambassador Cristiano Ronaldo and previously ran a campaign featuring comedian and actor John Leguizamo, both of whom are popular among Hispanic and general market consumers. The company also provides Spanish-speaking customer-service representatives to assist Spanish-speaking customers.

In addition, Altice USA celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and recognizes the rich heritage of Hispanic Americans by administering a student essay contest across its footprint that asks students to write about a Latino, past or present, with whom they would like to spend the day. It also holds a separate but similar contest for the children of the company’s employees.

Comcast’s Javier Garcia has joined the15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, which takes place on Oct. 19 at the Sheraton NY Times Square Hotel.

Garcia, who is senior VP and general manager for multicultural services at the company, will participate in a discussion and presentation on what is trending for Hispanic consumers of pay TV, video, phone and internet services.

“Javier is a great addition to our line-up of featured speakers at this year’s Hispanic Television Summit,” said Louis Hillelson, group publisher and VP of NewBay Media’sBroadcasting & CableandMultichannel News. He continued, “Javier and his team at Comcast set the industry standard in so many ways. Our attendees will be able to get the latest trend information, fresh ideas, pricing strategies, and hopefully some inspiration for serving Hispanics.”

Part of NewBay Media’sNYC Television Week, theHispanic Television Summitfocuses solely on the business aspects of television for Hispanic and Latin American viewers.

For more information and to register, clickHERE.

Check out the full releaseHERE.

NEW YORK -- Rafael Amaya, star of the popular, Emmy Award-winning, Spanish-language Telemundo super series El Señor de los Cielos (“Lord of the Skies”), which just launched its fifth season on June 20, will be the 2017 recipient of the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television. 

Amaya will accept the award (from Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News) at a special luncheon ceremony, from 12:30 to 2 p.m., during the 15th annual Hispanic Television Summit on Thursday, Oct. 19, at the Sheraton New York Hotel.

Mr. Amaya is being recognized for a career which has propelled him to becoming one of the best-known actors in both Spanish- and English-language television today. His career includes starring roles in successful Telemundo Network original productions, theater, movies, and television series. This leading man has also served as co-host of The Billboard Mexican Music Awards and The Billboard Latin Music Awards.

“We are especially excited to be recognizing the achievements of this outstanding, popular actor and musician, who continues to attract millions of viewers to every episode of the successful, long-running super series,” said Louis Hillelson, the magazines' vice president and group publisher. “This is the quinceañera year for the Summit, and Mr. Amaya is receiving our legacy award which has been presented to other television leaders over the past fifteen years.” 

Past recipients of the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hispanic Television include other on-air celebrities like Mario Kreutzberger, better known as “Don Francisco;” Andrés Cantor; Cristina Saralegui; Lucero; Raúl De Molina and Lili Estefan; news anchors Jorge Ramos, María Elena Salinas, José Díaz-Balart and María Celeste Arrarás; boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya and advertising executives P&G’s Edgar Sandoval and Monica Gadsby of Publicis Groupe.    

The Hispanic Television Summit is the most popular and longest running annual event for executives in the business of television and video for Hispanic audiences, worldwide. It attracts nearly 500 executives from the U.S., Latin America and Europe, produced for NewBay Media by the Schramm Marketing Group. This year, the summit will be one of a series of conferences and events to be presented during NYC TV and Video Week, Oct. 16-19, 2017.   

To enjoy the early bird rate for this Summit, register by Monday, Sept. 11, at https://nbmedia.swoogo.com/TVWEEK2017.

To learn more about the 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, visit www.hispanictvsummit.com.

What appealed to USA Network about the telenovela format – in the form of upcoming drama Queen of the South – is what appeals to viewers of Spanish-language, action-oriented “super series” and the new category of bio-musicals on Telemundo: compelling heroes and stories that attract young, multicultural audiences.

“We look for really distinctive, noisy concepts that we feel like will break out,” Alex Sepiol, senior vice president, original scripted programming, at USA Network said during a panel session at the Hispanic Television Summit on Thursday at the Park Central Hotel in New York City. “Stories that have urgency to them, that have really memorable characters at their core. Which is why we’re so excited about Queen of the South with Teresa Mendoza. It’s such an incredibly memorable character, she’s so bold and fun and just unique, that we feel like she will make a tremendous impression on the marketplace.”

Queen of the South is adapted from a novel, but that novel was previously made into a hit novela, La Reina del Sur, on Telemundo. The lead character, Teresa Mendoza (played by Alice Braga, pictured, in the USA version), starts out as a victim whose boyfriend, a drug dealer in Mexico, is murdered. She flees to America, though, and ends up learning the trade and becoming a power in the drug cartel.

Perla Farias, Telemundo’s vice president of novela development, shared the panel stage with Sepiol and talked about how the novela genre has over time morphed into several categories in the network’s primetime. They include, along with telenovelas and super series, bio-musicals (like Telemundo’s new hit Celia), bio-dramas and romantic comedies, she said.

The NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language broadcaster currently has 12 different stories in different stages of development, including the faster-paced, shorter-running super series that Farias and Telemundo are credited with creating. They are heavy on action, but have melodramatic elements, Farias said. This past April, the season-three return of El Señor de los Cielos (Lord of the Skies), a super series about an imprisoned drug lord, set a record for a Telemundo series premiere.

“We like to say amongst ourselves that the [super] series is ‘los narcos también lloran,’ which means ‘the narcos also cry,’ ” she said. “We get to see these violent characters, but at the same time we get to see the human frailty and passions. I think that’s what makes them so compelling.”

Alan J. Sokol, a former Telemundo and InterMedia executive who’s now CEO of Hemisphere Media Group (which has Spanish-language cable channels including telenovela channel Pasiones), said Telemundo deserved applause for championing faster-paced iterations of the genre.

“The way people live today doesn’t necessarily lend itself to watching six months of five-day-a week novelas,” he said. Unitarios that present a self-contained story within an hour are also a format with great potential, he said.

NEW YORK — Spanish-language television is alive and well, Telemundo president Luis Silberwasser declared at the Hspanic Television Summit here Oct. 22.

“You can see the demand for Spanish-language television is pretty significant,” he told interviewer and Noticiero Telemundoco-anchor María Celeste Arrarás during a session at Park Central Hotel in Manhattan.

Silberwasser added, however, that the reduction in immigration from Spanish-speaking countries has had an effect.

“Clearly there is a shift going on,” he said. “But it has opened also the door, for the number of bilinguals are growing. So for us it’s an opportunity."

He attributed Telemundo’s recent ratings success to original content and innovation, which help them reach the evolving Hispanic audience, including millennials.

For example, the network has launched “Telemundo Súper Series,” shows that differ from traditional telenovelas in that they have fewer episodes, higher-end production and pumped-up action. Súper series El Señor de los Cielos recently launched its second season and, to help audience members catch up, the network released a comic book summarizing season one as well as a digital push preceding the premiere.

“When you try to do something different at a high-quality level, I think Telemundo tends to win," Silberwasser said, "and I think the audience is able to see a shift in the marketplace right now."

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

This week’s Hispanic Summit will focus on the shifting priorities within the expanding business of Hispanic television. One of those priority shifts should be toward Hispanic viewing of over-the-top services, according to several recent reports.

While Hispanics continue to watch traditional television in big numbers, averaging 112 hours a month watching live and DVR time-shifted TV in the second quarter — behind only African-Americans — those numbers were down by five hours from the same period in 2014, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience report.

What is increasing is Hispanics’ use of OTT services such as Hulu, Netflix and Amazon. Among Hispanic TV viewers, 30% of their weekly viewing is of content from OTT services , nearly double the 18% just two years ago, according to Horowitz Research’s recent “Focus Latino” report.

Moreover, nearly half of Hispanic Internet users with a multichannel subscription feel that viewing TV content over the Internet is as easy as watching a multichannel service, Horowitz said.

Also, Hispanics tend to binge-view while accessing OTT services, a Thinknow Research study said. That study reported that 40% of Hispanic OTT viewers prefer to watch three or more episodes of their favorite shows back-to-back compared to just 29% of non-Hispanic viewers.

That’s despite the relatively sparse amount of content targeted to Hispanic viewers on OTT services — and in particular Spanish-language programming — compared with the numerous Hispanic-targeted English and Spanish-language cable networks available on MVPD lineups.

There has been some efforts to reach Hispanics in the digital space: Hulu has been very aggressive in developing original Hispanic-themed projects such as scripted drama series East Los High (pictured).

DirecTV’s Yaveo OTT service has also looked to serve Hispanic consumers seeking Spanish-language programming without the need for a cable-TV subscription.

Still, Hispanic increases in OTT viewing haven’t correlated with a significant increase in cable cord cutting. Horowitz reported that 89% of Hispanics with access to OTT SVOD services also have a multichannel service, providing opportunities for all content providers to reach a very influential and growing customer base.

The third annual NYC Television Week, presented by Broadcasting & Cable, MultichannelNews, Next TV and Ratings Intelligence, is back Oct. 20-22 with top executives discussing the hottest topics in the industry.

Here are some of the highlights of the upcoming five events: Advanced Advertising, the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, The Content Show, the Next TV Summit and the 13th annual Hispanic Television Summit.

• Advanced Advertising kicks off the events on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Headline keynote speakers are NBCUniversal chairman of ad sales and client partnerships Linda Yaccarino and Group M global chairman Irwin Gottlieb. Panel sessions include deep dives into programmatic advertising, new measurement metrics and addressable advertising.

• 25th Anniversary Broadcasting & CableHall of Fame is the evening of Oct. 20 at the Waldorf Astoria. This year’s gala will be co-hosted by TV legend Regis Philbin, ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir and NBC Today co-host Hoda Kotb. Inductees include The Walt Disney Co. chairman and CEO Robert Iger, Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, Dr. Phil McGraw and Today co-host Kathy Lee Gifford. The late National Football League Hall of Famer and broadcast legend Frank Gifford also will be honored for lifetime achievement.

• The Content Show is Oct. 21-22 at the Park Central Hotel, with an opening keynote from Deutsch Inc. chairman emeritus Donny Deutsch in conversation with B&C editor Dade Hayes. Wendy Williams Show host Wendy Williams and Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein will participate in a keynote Q&A taking a closerlook at the syndication giant. Thursday’s keynote Q&A will feature a discussion with DiscoveryCommunications’s Henry Schleiff, group president for Investigation Discovery, Military Channel and Destination America, led by B&C consulting editor Melissa Grego.

• Next TV Summit at the Park Central on Oct. 21 boasts keynotes from Jonathan Murtaugh, Facebook and Instagram U.S. head of industry for film and television and head of the L.A. office, as well as a talk with Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch. In the afternoon keynote session, United Talent Agency managing director Jay Sures offers a Hollywood insider’s take on over-the-top video and the overall direction of the television market.

• The Hispanic Television Summit is scheduled for Oct.22 at the Park Central, with an opening keynote session with Group M Multicultural president Gonzalo Del Fa and B&C and Multichannel News editorial director Mark Robichaux. Telemundo president Luis Silberwasserwill be interviewed by Noticiero Telemundo co-anchor María Celeste Arrarás about the challenge of creating new content. Hispanic television host, singer and actress Lucero will be presented the award for Achievement in Hispanic Television, while Verizon vice president of cultural engagement Javier Farfan will accept the Leadership in HispanicTelevision award for his company.

For more about New York City Television Week, please visit nyctelevisionweek.com and follow the hashtag on Twitter, #NYCTVWK.

NEW YORK -- Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News today said  that Gonzalo del Fa, president, GroupM Multicultural, and Gary R. Stevenson, president and managing director, MLS Business Ventures, have been named opening and closing keynote speakers for NewBay Media’s 13th Annual Hispanic Television Summit. The premier one-day conference covering the business of Hispanic television in the United States, Latin America and around the world is set for Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Park Central Hotel New York.  

This year, for the first time, the Hispanic Television Summit will be one of the signature events that make up New York City Television Week, which also includes The Next TV Summit & Expo, The Content Show, Advanced Advertising and the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

“The Hispanic Television Summit is always one of our most popular conferences of the year,” Louis Hillelson, VP/Group Publisher, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News, said. “By bringing it under the New York City Television Week umbrella, our attendees will be a wide cross-section of the general market with the Hispanic television communities. This will bring added value to their participation. It’s a great opportunity for anyone looking to learn from each other, network and be inspired.”

Hillelson continued, “Our keynoters represent two areas of greatest interest to our attendees, one being ad-spend targeting Hispanic viewers, and the other being the changes affecting the immediate future of televised soccer.”

Delivering the opening keynote, del Fa will discuss “Turning Loyal Viewers into Your New Customers.” As president of GroupM Multicultural, del Fa leads all aspects of the multicultural media and marketing efforts initiated by GroupM agencies including Mindshare, MEC, Mediacom and Maxus. Under del Fa’s leadership, GroupM Multicultural handles more than $600 million in billings from clients such as Nestle, AT&T, Unilever, Anheuser Busch, Mars, Colgate, Lancôme, Abbott, Netflix, Church & Dwight, Subway, Kimberly Clark and KFC. del Fa joined GroupM in 2003 as Managing Director of MEC Argentina. 

Last year, MLS received the Leadership in Hispanic Television Award at this summit, so it is fitting that Stevenson’s closing keynote will be “A Look Ahead at the Business of Soccer on Television.” An innovator in sports marketing and media strategies for more than 35 years, Stevenson was named president and managing director of MLS Business Ventures in 2013.  Stevenson oversees the commercial side of MLS, which includes Soccer United Marketing (SUM), media/broadcasting, club services, international, marketing, content and digital. 

In addition to launching and building OnSport, a highly successful sports marketing and television consulting firm in 1997 and selling it to the Wasserman Media Group in 2007, Stevenson has served as a senior-level executive at the NBA and PGA Tour. He also was the COO and oversaw the launch of two television networks, The Golf Channel in 1995 and the Pac-12 Networks in 2012.

The Hispanic Television Summit is the premier event for those in the business of television for Hispanic audiences and covers programming, advertising, online distribution technology and this year will especially feature the genre of telenovelas. Over 500 executives attend from the U.S., Latin America, Europe and other territories, representing broadcasters, pay TV providers, over-the-top digital providers, programming networks, production companies, advertisers, ad agencies, technology suppliers, research firms and investors.

The Summit includes the presentation of the Leadership in Hispanic Television Award as well as the Award for Achievement in Hispanic Television. Previous recipients of the Leadership Award include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Dish Latino and Major League Soccer, and the Achievement Award past recipients include on-air personalities Don Francisco, Andrés Cantor, and Cristina Saralegui; network news anchors Jorge Ramos, Maria Celeste Arrarás, María Elena Salinas and José Díaz-Balart; sports celebrity Oscar De La Hoya and advertising executives Monica Gadsby of SMG and Edgar Sandoval of P&G.

The Summit is produced by The Schramm Marketing Group, based in New York City. To inquire about speaking opportunities, contact Joseph Schramm at 212-983-0219 or jschramm@schrammnyc.com. For registration, please contact Rebecca Shottland at rshottland@nbmedia.com or 917-281-4782. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Charlie Weiss at cweiss@nbmedia.com or 212-378-0478.