Latest from Next TV in Hispanic-upfronts

Upfronts 2017: Univision Touts 'Passion Points'

MCN Staff — Tue, 16 May 2017 01:57:00 +0000

Univision is set to host its upfront Tuesday (May 16) in New York City, with Colombian singer Shakira on board to perform.

The Spanish-language U.S. media conglomerate said in a release it will highlight five "passion points:" soccer, news, family, music and drama. The soccer news will include Univision's first access to UEFA Champions League contests in summer 2018 on Univision Deportes, along with UEFA Europa League and UEFA Nations League contests.

More details about Univision's upfront announcement are in the release linked here.

Upfronts 2017: Azteca Builds 'The Wall'

kent.gibbons@futurenet.com (Kent Gibbons) — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 01:27:00 +0000

New York -- Azteca America, the broadcast network and Spanish-language programmer, dug into the headlines for its first U.S.-based original series. It's called El Muro, or The Wall. Set along the Arizona-Mexico border, the drama will break up into 10 blocks of five episodes around a central narrative -- "a love story between Adriana, an undocumented immigrant, and Calixto, the immigration officer in charge of her deportation." Network CEO Manuel Abud said the show, in early production and slated to premiere in 2018, would entertain and "tap into issues that are of extreme interest to our audience."

At an upfront event for advertisers at the Times Center, Azteca America (owned by Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca) executives said its mix of entertainment shows and events like the Miss Universe pageant, back for a third year in a row and with new "Camino a la Corona" backstage buildup programming, led to sizable gains in total viewers (33%), adults 18-49 (28%) and adults 18-34 (29%) in primetime for 2015-16, citing Nielsen.

Another new primetime original is El Manicomio (Mental Hospital), a thriller series about a reporter who goes undercover in a psychiatric hospital. The network is adding boxing (Knockout, a U.S.-produced reality series) and mixed martial arts in the form of Combate Americas Azteca fare. A deal for more than 1,000 hours of Turkish drama series from KANAL D adds to a stockpile of action fare.

On the sales and digital fronts, Azteca America said it had new digital TV slash programmatic pacts, with Videology for programmatic buys and with Zype to spread its original news and entertainment content on OTT platforms including Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku.

Three Hispanic Upfronts Memes: Clinton, Snacks and Music Rule

MCN Staff — Mon, 18 May 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Spanish-language programmers big (Univision, Telemundo), not quite so big (Azteca America, NBC Universo, Estrella TV) and sportive (ESPN Deportes) made their own pitches to advertisers, buyers and press at upfronts in New York last week, with a few themes that stuck out to The Wire.

Bill Clinton Gets Noticed. Univision’s Tuesday morning (May 12) gathering at the Lyric Theater had the big “get” of the week in the form of a Q&A with the 42nd president of the United States. He emphasized the importance of Hispanic Americans’ purchasing power, saying, “There’s data available, and I’d get it and study it if I were an advertiser.” He also said Hispanics’ purchasing power will grow as Latinos become a bigger part of the work force and more highly educated. The message was potent enough that later, that evening at NBCUniversal Hispanic Group’s upfront, group chairman Joe Uva drew knowing laughs and applause when he declared on stage, “As many of you probably heard from former President Clinton this morning, the power and influence of this community is stronger than ever —and we agree!” When the overseer of Telemundo alludes to Univision in a complimentary way, that’s news.

Snackables on the Menu. Amid talk of new drama series, novelas and big sports events like FIFA World Cups (NBCU Hispanic networks, including the new NBC Deportes unit) and UEFA European Championships (ESPN Deportes), short digital videos found a strong foothold. Broadcaster Estrella TV is creating a multichannel network called Fenomeno Studios to make short videos from the likes of musical parody performer Don Cheto and Luis Coronel and then put them on Instagram and various other platforms. ESPN Deportes is launching Quick Hits-branded short videos, including series like SportsCenter Ahora, Pitazo Final (soccer analysis) and ESPiaNdo (American sports). And NBCU got a rise out of upfront attendees with a demonstration of Double Acción, a second-screen app that streams content complementing what’s being shown on TV during scripted series, even down to having one of the characters in the show call the person on the mobile phone that’s running the app.

Music, Fun Still Matter: Hispanic programmers enjoy a good party. Clinton, at the Univision upfront, even joked that he was the warm-up act for Ricky Martin, who performed after the presentation. Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee, a judge on Telemundo’s La Voz Kids, got NBCU Hispanic attendees off their feet at Rose Hall. Skylar Grey sang at Estrella TV’s gathering at Bryant Park Grill. Azteca put senior executives to work in a “Chicago”-style number at the Best Buy Theater May 11, backed by the Tango Azteca dancers, after an opening performance by the Freelusion dance troupe. CEO Manuel Abud observed Freelusion is from Hungary, the director is Mexican and the choreographer is a New Yorker. “So what’s next, a novela from the Middle East?” he joked. (No, but the network has picked up rights to air the cool-looking Turkish drama Kaçak, so that’s kind of close.)

—Kent Gibbons

A Baller and a Player Kill Two Bottles of Wine and Tequila

Atlanta-based Inside The NBA hosts Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley brought their irreverent and entertaining act to New York as hosts for Turner Broadcasting System’s upfront presentation on May 13 —and promptly stole the show.

Armed with new long-term deals to continue as hosts for TNT’s shoulder series for the network’s live National Basketball Association game coverage, the four personalities didn’t hesitate to make light of Turner execs — and themselves — during their the pre-upfront, halftime and post-upfront stints at the event.

The outspoken Barkley took a shot at Smith’s reality series Meet the Smiths on TBS, saying that no one is going to sit and watch that “shitty” show on Friday nights. Smith retorted that Barkley seems to have a lot of interest in his life because he’s constantly texting Smith to find out what he’s doing.

Barkley also said that prior to the new deal, TBS Sports president David Levy came to his house armed with two bottles of wine and tequila to help secure his long-term services. “We killed them,” Barkley said, referring to the liquor. Later, during a Turner press luncheon, Levy would clarify that he and Barkley weren’t the only ones at the house partaking.

—R. Thomas Umstead

Update: This story was corrected on May 18 to state that La Voz Kids is on Telemundo, not NBC Universo.