The Paramount Network, Viacom’s Spike network rebranded as a premium entertainment channel, racked up higher ratings in its first week on the air.

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In prime time, Paramount said it was up 93% in adults 18 to 49 and 85% in total viewers compared with the same week last quarter. Spike’s ratings dropped 24% last year.

Spike had been aimed at men, but Paramount is aiming for a more balanced audience. Viewing last week by women 18 to 49 was up 82% compared with last quarter.

The premiere of Paramount’s original miniseries Waco drew a 101 ratings among adults 18-49 and 1.9 million total viewers. The show was simulcast on CMT, totaling 2.4 million viewers and a 1.4 demo rating.

NBC Sports is renaming its regional sports networks, replacing their Comcast Sports Net and TCN titles with NBC Sports, effective Oct. 2.

For example, CSN Chicago will become NBC Sports Chicago, and TCN Philadelphia will become NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit has been pushing the Peacock logo on the regional sports networks since 2012 to make them more clearly associated with NBC Sports.

“We’re excited to complete the brand evolution of our remaining RSNs, which will now include the iconic NBC Sports name on all of our networks,” said David Preschlack, president, NBC Sports Regional Networks and NBC Sports Group Platform and Content Strategy. “This development is a reaffirmation of our continued commitment to provide the best, most compelling local sports coverage to our fans across the country.”

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The brand change is separate from programming changes that have been happening at the networks over the past year. Schedule game broadcasts will not change.

Comcast's West Coast RSNs changed their names in April to NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. Other network name changes include CSN Mid-Atlantic becoming NBC Sports Washington, TCN Mid-Atlantic becoming NBC Sports Washington+ and CSN New England becoming NBC Sports Boston.

While the transformation won’t officially occur until Super Bowl Sunday, NBCUniversal’s Hispanic cable network mun2 today said it is rebranding to NBC Universo.

The 40-million subscriber network, which will present the exclusive Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1, 2015, has unveiled its new name and logo, tying into NBC’s iconic peacock symbol and brand. The rebranding was first mentioned during the Telemundo/mun2 upfront presentation to advertisers in New York last May. 

As a general-entertainment service, NBC Universo will present top sports from around the globe, and feature high-quality entertainment, music, series and storytelling aimed at making emotional connections with U.S. Hispanics.

Rubén Mendiola, president of mun2, said the name change not only underlines the network's affiliation with NBC, but is in step with the Hispanic evolution in the U.S.

“The name mun2 is of two worlds: The part of the Latino community rooted in its heritage, as well as those assimilated to English and American culture. NBC Universo is more reflective of the wider world today and the choices it offers to Latinos. It’s much broader, a universe,” he said.

Joe Uva, chairman, Hispanic enterprises and content at NBCUniversal, said the transformation of mun2, which recently became available in the high-definition format, is one of the company’s top priorities. NBC Universo will have “greater appeal to viewers, advertisers and MPVDs. Distributors will value the network more as it offers high-profile programming and sporting events."

Mendiola said research revealed that current moniker didn’t evoke connections in the minds of viewers to NBC Universal and its iconic, cable brands like USA, E!, Bravo and NBCSN. “We want to be part of that group,” he said.

Noting that the switch is the result of extensive research among focus groups, online panels and other methodologies, Uva said there “isn’t any brand equivalent of a USA Network for Hispanics.” He said the research indicates Latinos will be drawn to culturally relevant general-entertainment programming.

Both executives talked up the network’s tentpole sports – a five-game NFL package, capped by the championship contest; 550 hours of FIFA fare it will share next summer with broadcast brethren Telemundo; a major jump in ratings for Barclays Premier League soccer; the bow of a full season of NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series in 2015; wrestling action via WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown, and the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janiero.

Mendiola said the network’s sports coverage is being informed by one of NBC's hallmarks: storytelling. "We want to take that aspect and make it culturally relevant to Latinos.”

He lauded the job NBC does with letting people get to know the athletes that compete in the quadrennials.  “Our goal is to do what NBC has done with the Olympics and move that to other sports," he said, noting that process is already underway with its BPL coverage and that the game plan calls for similar tactics during the upcoming FIFA run as players progress from the U17 and  U20 squads to ultimately attaining senior national team stature.

On the entertainment side, NBC Universo will continue to present music videos and build on A Toda Gloria, which provides with an all-access look into the life of international Latin music icon Gloria Trevi, both on- and off-stage.

Neither executive, though, would provide detailed programming specifics, which may be conveyed during the TCA winter press tour. There were hints, however.

Uva said that he hopes the rebranded service will continue to appeal to its bilingual, millennial base via sports fare and action programming, while broadening its audience overall with a more diversified programming lineup.

Mendiola said NBC Universo's target will be 18 to 34, with the audience pushing toward the 18-to-49 set. He said the programming will be "edgier than what you see on broadcast" and those sensibilities will be built into the series and movies that the network acquires and has in development.

While sports will air in Spanish – that’s where the network holds the rights – entertainment and other programming will be conveyed in the appropriate language, depending on genre and daypart. “ We want it to be organic,” Uva said.

Mendiola said much work lies ahead over the next 90 days or so before the rebrand on Super Bowl Sunday, but he's confident viewers will like what they see as NBC Universo moves to super-serve Hispanics.

“We’re very serious about the positioning, the new look and logo,” he said. “It’s going to be something that Latinos have not had before.”

The mystery about the new look for the rebranded Hallmark Movie Channel has been solved.

In an exclusive reveal here, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, which is set to officially convert from Hallmark Movie Channel on Oct. 1, will maintain brand continuity by showcasing elements of the crown logo and the scripted writing found in its current iteration, as well as that of progenitor Hallmark Channel.

Executives had said at an upfront press presentation on March 13 that a branding change was coming.

Senior vice president of marketing Susanne McAvoy said the look was guided by the affinity viewers have for the family-friendly values tied to the two Hallmark networks and Hallmark Cards, parent of Crown Media Networks, which operates the two channels. “Viewers associate strong attributes with the brands,” she said, and the new logo integrates the old with the network’s new thematic direction.

The revamped logo sports its ampersand circumscribed within a magnifying glass, a visual meant to emphasize a programming mix aimed at unraveling who-done-its. Los Angeles-based branding agency Houndstooth worked with McAvoy and Hallmark on the redesign.

McAvoy and her group had engaged in the new branding for Hallmark Channel two years ago, which ultimately resulted in the current “Heart of TV” tagline. The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries logo will stand on its own at the outset.

Promos will begin running on-air and on the website in September to inform viewers who may not be aware that the network transformation is coming.

McAvoy said Hallmark Cards chairman Don Hall and the company’s board signed off on the new logo on June 25. Focus groups last November informed the programmer’s commitment to the genre. The rebranded network will introduce its fi rst mystery “wheel” in 2015, with a rotation of three distinct movie franchises, each consisting of several movies that follow the same primary characters over a few months.

The wheel projects expected to roll into play are: Garage Sale Mystery, based on the 2013 original Hallmark Channel telefi lm, starring Lori Loughlin (When Calls the Heart); The Gourmet Detective, based on Peter King’s books and starring Dylan Neal (Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove); Hannah Swensen and the Sugar Cookie Murder (no cast yet); and Aurora Tea Garden with Candace Cameron Bure.

More Hallmark Movies & Mysteries programming details are expected to be disclosed at the Television Critics Association summer tour this week.