According to a new report from iSpot.tv, Spanish-language household TV ad impressions rose more than 27% to 181.1 billion in the first half of 2023, compared to a year ago.

Impressions were up 33.3% to 9.61 billion in the second quarter alone.

In the third quarter through August 31, Spanish-language households racked up 66.7 billion impressions. In Q3 2022, there were 79.4 billion impressions in Spanish-language households.

Spanish-language leader Univision grew its impressions by 31% in 2023 through August 31. Morning show ¡Despierta América! accounted for 12% of the network’s impressions.

Univision’s daytime TV ad impressions rose 21.4% year to date through August 31.

Telemundo’s impressions were up 29%.

Univision had a 47.1% share of impressions in Spanish-language homes in the first half, followed by Telemundo with 26.16%, Unimax with 14%, Galavision with 2.62% and TUDN with 2.61%. Others registered a 7.52% share.

A year ago, Univision had a 47.1% share, Telemundo had 26.2%, UniMás had 13.9%, TUDN and Galavisión each had a 2.6% share.

Burger King was the biggest advertiser in Spanish-language television, with a 1.4% share of impressions, according to iSpot. Burger King’s impressions were up 279% from a year ago.

Sonic was No. 2, part of a 43% increase in impressions among quick-serve restaurant chains. QSRs accounted for 9.16% of Spanish-language TV impressions.

Sonic’s impressions were up 94%, Wendy’s were up 42% and McDonald’s rose 24%.

The beer industry registered a 47% increase in Spanish-language impressions.

Mexican brew Modelo increased its impressions 146% from a year ago.and Spanish-language commercials accounted for 29% of Modelo’s TV impressions. For Michelob Ultra, Spanish-language TV accounted for 31.8% of TV ad impressions.

After Burger King and Sonic, the top Spanish-language advertisers were Walmart, Verizon, Modelo, Wendy’s, Target, Domino’s, Walgreens and McDonald’s.

According to new figures from Standard Media Index, broadcast year-to-date national revenue for Spanish-language TV networks were up 9% to $1.5 billion, the second-straight year of 9% growth.

The back-to-back bonanza separates Spanish-language TV from the TV market overall, which bounced back from the pandemic during the 2020-21 broadcast year but have been largely flat for 2021-22.

The most recent figures for SMI stretch from October 2021 to July of 2022, according to Nicole McCurnin, director of advertising insights at SMI.

“It’s been a consistent growth area,” McCurnin said.

SMI looked at 13 networks and saw growth across almost all of them. One network, El Rey, dropped off cable and out of SMI’s rankings as it shifted to streaming this year.

Spanish-language ad revenue is dominated by TelevisaUnivision’s Univision’s broadcast network, accounting for $768 million in spending or close to 50% of the total. So fair this broadcast year, Univision revenue is up 12%.

Comcast’s Telemundo network is No. 2 at $371 million in revenue, up 5%.

TelevisaUnivision owns the next three networks on the list, with Univmas up 10%, Galavision up 14% and sports network TUDN up 18%.

The remaining Spanish-language TV networks were up 3% combined.

The main reason for Spanish-language network revenue growth is the continued increase in the Hispanic population, McCurnin said. But other factors including a slower shift to streaming among Hispanics, although that may change with the launch earlier this year of TelevisaUnivision’s ViX and other Spanish-language streamers.

More advertisers are using Spanish-language media, but the biggest spending categories, according to SMI are pharmaceuticals, entertainment and retail. ■

Under a two-year agreement, Estrella and TV Azteca have committed to co-produce original content and specials, including Estrellas regional Mexican music awards show Premios de la Radio. The co-produced content will include scripted and unscripted show for broadcast, over the top, ad supported VOD and free ad-supported streaming television channels.

The deal follows Spanish-language giant Univision combining its media operations with Televisa of Mexico. The other big Spanish language market player is Telemundo, which is part of Comcast NBCUniversal.

Also: NewFronts: Estrella Launching AVOD Channel for Gamers

“This agreement brings two unique Spanish-language media companies together to create unparalleled content for Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and Mexico,” said Peter Markham, CEO, Estrella Media. “Providing additional high-quality content is going to enable us to continue to grow our business across our linear and digital platforms and expand opportunities in branded entertainment. Estrella Media reaches an unduplicated audience in the U.S., and through this partnership we will be able to strengthen the content that we deliver to our viewers.”

Also: Estrella Media Get Fubo vMVPD Distribution Deal

TV Azteca, part of Groupo Salinas, is the second largest media company in Mexico behind Televisa. It operates TV networks in Mexico and owns part of the Azteca America network in the U.S.

“TV Azteca has set its goals on the creation of the best content for the audiences, and this partnership with EstrellaTV will allow us to broaden the reach of the best productions to Mexico and the U.S.,” said Benjamín Salinas, VP of the Board of Grupo Salinas. “We believe in joining efforts with key partners, and our alliance with EstrellaTV means a great enhancement to what the public will find on multiple platforms: high-quality productions wherever and whenever they want them.”

Some details about the two companies’ programming plans will be disclosed at Estrella’s NewFront presentation on Thursday, May 5 and its virtual upfront presentation on Monday, May 9. ■

The content includes Spanish-language scripted and unscripted shows, plus sports and news aimed at the growing U.S. Hispanic market.

“With Latinos surpassing $1.7 trillion in purchasing power, every company in America should build strong relationships with this audience to grow their business today and into the future. Telemundo and Comcast NBCUniversal offer the only premier platforms to reach them at scale across the entire spectrum and capture this exponential growth,” said Beau Ferrari, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

Also Read: NBCU Telemundo Launches Studio Built for Streaming

“As the leading producer of Spanish-language scripted content, we are uniquely positioned to deliver for our audience on every screen. This coming season we’re doubling down on our commitment and investments to super-serve Latinos with the best entertainment content, world class sports events and most trusted news they want and need, delivered on the devices they prefer,” Ferrari said. 

Telemundo will have two “Super Series,” with season three of La Reina del Sur and Malverde: El Santo Patrón, the network’s first period drama Super Series. 

Also coming are two new reality shows, La Casa de los Famosos, with a group of celebrities living together, and Así se Baila, a dance competition where celebrities and their loved ones put their relationships and dancing skills to test. 

As part of the NBCU family, Telemundo will have more than 300 hours of coverage of the 2021 Olympics from Tokyo his summer. It will also have extensive coverage of soccer’s CONCACAF FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers.

“When you combine the power of Comcast and NBCUniversal with the deep connections and trust of Telemundo, we not only reach more Latinos than any other media company nationwide, but we also speak to these consumers with the authentic stories that move them," said Laura Molen, president, advertising & partnerships, NBCUniversal. "For our marketing partners, this means an opportunity to tap into a powerful, critical audience and move their business through the incredible impact of storytelling. From primetime to Peacock, only NBCUniversal and Telemundo can help marketers meaningfully engage with the Hispanic consumers leading the cultural and technological revolutions of tomorrow.”

Telemundo Streaming Studios, will be based in Miami, and led by Marco Santana, president of Telemundo Global Studios, who will continue to oversee all original scripted productions for the Telemundo network and other platforms including international co-productions.

The new unit launches with more than 35 projects in development including the dramedy Armas de Mujer for Peacock and seasons 4 and 5 for El Marginal Season for Netflix.

Also in the works are a remake of Historia de un Clan, upcoming seasons of El Recluso, a new version of El Diario de un Gigolo and the action series El Immortal.  

“As the premier media company serving Hispanics in the U.S., Telemundo is shaping a new era in Hispanic media with the creation of the first-of-its-kind streaming studio,” said Beau Ferrari, chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. “Latinos are pacesetters of cultural and technological change. We are the leading Hispanic media company super serving the Latinos of today with the best original, premium and culturally relevant content across all platforms.”

Since 2011, Telemundo has been a leading provider of scripted Spanish-language content to direct-to-consumer platforms such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Moviestar. It delivered over 14,000 hours of original content including 3,000 hours to Peacock when it launched last year. 

“We are thrilled to open a new state-of-the-art studio designed from its inception to produce premium content featuring world-class producers and award-winning Hispanic talent across the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Spain and Argentina,” said Santana. “As pioneers in the production of scripted Spanish-language content for U.S. Hispanics, we have a wide range of experience to invest in producing the best scripted content for the growing number of Latinos who consume their favorite shows across streaming platforms. With these new studios, Telemundo will be the go-to source for Latino streaming content in the US and around the world.”

Nationwide since Sept. 1, Kantar calculates that $932 million has been spent on presidential campaign ads across TV and radio and that 62% of that ($581 million ) has been for Joe Biden. President Trump’s re-election campaign has been backed by $352 million in TV and radio ads during that time.

That number includes ads already scheduled to run through Nov. 3.

Three of the top five markets in terms of presidential election ad spending are in Florida, with Orlando seeing $51.2 million, Miami getting $47.9 million and Tampa garnering $46.1 million.

Kantar noted that since January 2019, $24 million has been spent in Florida on Spanish-language broadcast TV to reach the large Puerto Rican, Cuban and Venezuelan populations in the state.

Nearly $5 million has been spent in Orlando on Spanish-language broadcast TV, compared to less than $1 million during the entire 2016 presidential election cycle. Many ads have focused on Puerto Rican immigrants, many of whom relocated there after Hurricane Maria.

Spending on Spanish language network advertising was more than $15 million, up from $3 million in 2016. 

For the September to Nov. 3 period, Phoenix ranks No. 2  

The other top 5 market is Philadelphia.

Plex, which combines a long-popular streaming media management software tool with a growing AVOD platform, said 25 live-linear Spanish-language options will roll out on its service over the coming weeks, brining its total linear channel selection to more than 100. 

Also read: Plex: Everything You Need to Know About the Geek Streaming Platform Flexing for Mainstream Attention

Six of those channels will roll out Thursday, with three coming from Sony Canal. The Sony Comedias channel, for example, will feature classic comedies including  Casados con Hijos (an adaptation of Married with Children), La Niñera (The Nanny) and Mi Bella Genio (I Dream of Jeannie).

There’s also dramas, telenovelas and musicals.

“A few weeks ago we launched free Live TV on Plex. Which was great—if you enjoy your content in English,” Plex said in a blog post announcing the additions. “If you were a fan of Spanish language content, there wasn’t quite as much to enjoy. So today we are excited to announce for our US audiences, that we’re adding a new serving of channels featuring a wide array of Spanish language content—telenovelas, game shows, sitcoms, movies, award-winning series and more.”

The channel will debut on June 30 carried by Cox Communications’ Contour customers. Subscribers to Charter Communications’ Spectrum will get the new channel by Aug. 1.

Launch advertisers finclude Walmart, Mondelez, Sprint, Boost, Little Caesars, Daisy and Burlington.

Related: New Discovery-Sky Deal Includes Direct-to-Consumer

“Discovery is already well-regarded as the leader in real-life entertainment, reflected in the success of Discovery en Español and Discovery Familia – which together own nearly a quarter of the total share for all Hispanic cable primetime viewing,” said Fernando Medin, president and general manager, Discovery Latin America and U.S. Hispanic.

“Discovery U.S. Hispanic is dedicated to making a genuine connection to our audience with programming that resonates with their lives, interests and aspirations—and that also best serves the vital, growing U.S. Hispanic marketplace,” Medin said.

Hogar de HGTV will have original productions, such as Mientras no estabas, Destino con Sabor and Chef a Domicilio, a new series produced entirely from participants’ homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Other programs spring from current HGTV and Food Networks shows, such as En la cocina (The Kitchen), Chopped: Eliminado (Chopped), Cocinando con Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), Primos a la obra (Cousins Undercover), Delicias en la playa con Katie Lee (Beach Bites with Katie Lee) and Giada en Italia (Giada in Italy).

Medin also expects the new channel to be popular with media buyers and sponsors.

“Our goal is to offer the advertising marketplace the same premium experience that they have been accustomed to on Food Network and HGTV,” said Medin. “The Hogar de HGTV environment will feature a highly-coveted Hispanic viewer in a non-clutter environment with approximately five minutes less advertising time, per hour, than our competitors,” he said.

Netflix will adapt the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel One Hundred Years of Solitude to a Spanish-language TV series. Rodrigo Garcia and Gonzalo Garcia Barcha, sons of the author, will be executive producers.

The book, a multi-generational story of a family in Colombia, was published in 1967 and has sold an estimated 50 million copies.

“We are incredibly honored to be entrusted with the first filmed adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, a timeless and iconic story from Latin America that we are thrilled to share with the world,” said Francisco Ramos, VP, Spanish-language originals for Netflix. “We know our members around the world love watching Spanish-language films and series and we feel this will be a perfect match of project and our platform.”

The show will be shot mainly in Colombia.

"For decades our father was reluctant to sell the film rights to Cien Años de Soledad because he believed that it could not be made under the time constraints of a feature film, or that producing it in a language other than Spanish would not do it justice,” said Garcia. “But in the current golden age of series, with the level of talented writing and directing, the cinematic quality of content, and the acceptance by worldwide audiences of programs in foreign languages, the time could not be better to bring an adaptation to the extraordinary global viewership that Netflix provides.”

Dish Network has apparently added sports channel Univision Deportes to its list of blacked out Spanish language networks, after failing to reach a carriage deal with the programmer.

This is the second block of Univision networks to go dark on the satellite TV service. In June, Univision’s broadcast channels, and its cable networks Galavison and UniMas went dark to Dish customers. Univision warned customers last month that Deportes could also get the axe from the satellite giant if a deal couldn’t be reached. Also going dark to Dish customers are Univision's FOROtv, TLNovelas and El Rey channels.

Dish has argued that the Univision networks are not broadly watched by its customers and that those who do can access the channels either through over-the-air antennas or directly from the programmer via its online apps.

Related: Ergen: Dish Would Face Customer Backlash if Univision Returned 

Dish lost about 367,000 satellite TV customers in the third quarter, losses that were almost all attributed to the Univision blackout. 

In a statement Univision said the failure by Dish to reach a deal for Deportes could mean even more subscribers leave the Dish fold. As a result of the latest dispute, Dish customers will lose access to more than 1,100 top soccer matches and major tournaments each year.

“Dish has now gutted its Spanish-language offering, which until recently was a core part of its business,” Univision said in a statement, adding that it has made “every reasonable effort” to reach an agreement.

Related: Ergen: Univision Blackout is 'Probably Permanent'

“Given that Dish experienced its worst-ever quarterly subscriber losses after dropping the bulk of Univision’s networks and stations, its unwillingness to recognize the power of Hispanic consumers and the popularity of Univision’s leading news, sports and entertainment programming is bizarre and disappointing,” Univision continued. “Moving forward, we will continue to use the full power of the Univision portfolio to encourage our audience to find a TV provider that is dedicated to serving Hispanic America.”

In a statement Dish said it offered to extend its agreement with Deportes while negotiations continued, but Univision refused.

“Instead, Univision has blocked Deportes, FOROtv, TLNovelas and El Rey from DishLatino customers,” Dish said in its statement. “The Univision story remains the same: its content, on the whole, continues to decline in viewership, and as a result, the economics of their proposals do not make sense. Meanwhile, Univision continues to sell its direct-to-consumer product, Univision NOW, at a lower price than Univision proposes charging Dish customers. We don’t think that’s right.”

Dish added that it is making up for the lost Univision channels by giving DishLatino customers a $5 monthly credit, replacement content and in markets where Univision is available over the air, free antennas. 

Hispanics currently number about 55 million residents in the U.S. and are and expected to grow to one-third of the entire country by 2060.

In its recent report – Always Connected: U.S.-based Hispanic consumers dominate mobile, entertainment and beyond – PwC found that the segment is one of the most tech-savvy – U.S. Hispanics are more likely to use newer technology like 4K TVs, virtual reality and drones – are heavy TV watchers and are increasingly viewing video on mobile devices. According to PwC, 90% of Hispanic consumers stream video on a smartphone or tablet, 10% higher than non-Hispanics. In addition, the average Hispanic consumer spends 26 hours per month watching video online or on their smartphone, 7 hours more than the overall U.S. average.

In addition, language isn’t as big a factor with the newest generation as it has been in the past. According to the PwC report, only 3% of first-generation Hispanic consumers watch exclusively Spanish-language content when streaming video, and just 21% said they stream more in Spanish than in English.

“Reaching Hispanic consumers is less about language and more about content,” PwC said in its report.

U.S. Hispanics also are heavy users of social media – younger consumers (aged 18-24) are more likely to tweet, like, share or follow a brand on social media than their non-Hispanic counterparts, 33% compared to 21%.

The heavy online and mobile viewing in the segment also translates into a high percentage that subscribe to subscription video on demand and over-the-top services. According to PwC, about 90% of U.S. Hispanics have subscribed to at least one SVOD service. The segment is less likely than non-Hispanics to subscribe to pay TV, with 79% seeing themselves as cable TV subscribers in one year (compared to 83% for non-Hispanics), dropping to 52% (55% for non-Hispanics) in 10 years.

Other key findings from the report include:

         * TV consumers are much more likely to watch Spanish-language programming that is live – 77% of consumers who typically watch TV in Spanish said they watched live TV in the past seven days.

         * First-generation Hispanic consumers are significantly more influenced by what they see on TV. 1 in 4 surveyed said they would be most influenced to purchase a product after seeing it on TV—more so than if they received a personal recommendation from a friend/family member, or saw something online, on social media or in the movies.

         * While TV advertising dominates new-movie discovery for the majority of consumers, Hispanic consumers are more likely to find out about a new movie from a YouTube video ad.

         * Hispanic consumers overall lead online viewership of TV. Hispanic TV consumers are watching a significant more amount online (average of 12.49 hours a week) than non-Hispanics (9.44 hours a week).

The zombie apocalypse will continue to unfold — in Spanish — thanks to NBC Universo.

The NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises-owned network will bring Spanish-dubbed episodes of basic cable’s most popular series to NBC Universo for a third season. Freshly dubbed season-three episodes of the AMC-originated series debuted on NBC Universo on Aug. 31; subsequent episodes will air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern for 16 weeks.

“We are excited to have more people become part of our universe, and having the opportunity to present our show to Latinos in the U.S. on NBC Universo is unprecedented,” Greg Nicotero, executive producer, director and special effects makeup supervisor for the series, said in a statement.

 “We are thrilled to bring back The Walking Dead en Español, a series that has resonated immensely with U.S. Hispanic audiences,” said Bilai Joa Silar, senior vice president of programming and production for NBC Universo.

In the third season of the popular AMC dramatic series, officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) continues the fight to survive and protect a group of survivors, including his family, from walkers. When he discovers a federal prison could be a safe refuge to set a permanent camp, he will push his group to its limit to eliminate prison walkers. Soon, he will discover his biggest challenge to keep his group alive will be other survivors. (Season three aired on AMC in 2012-13.)

NBC Universo is currently available to a reported 40 million households across the U.S.

The study 360 View Update: Pay TV and the Spanish-Language Household analyzes a survey of U.S. broadband households where Spanish is spoken daily. Among the key findings: Some 89% of these households have a pay TV subscription and more than 75% subscribe to at least one OTT video service. Among average U.S. broadband households, 84% subscribe to pay TV and roughly two-thirds subscribe to an OTT service.

“While pay TV penetration has declined among U.S. broadband households, adoption has remained steady among Spanish-preferred and bilingual households over the past few years,” Brett Sappington, Parks Associates senior director of research, said. “Cord-cutting does not have the same impact in Spanish-language households as it does for the larger broadband population. In fact, most of their recent pay TV changes have been upgrades to more expensive services.”

Meanwhile, Spanish-language pay TV households that identify themselves as bilingual are more likely than other U.S. households to have purchased pay TV upgrades within the past 12 months, according to the Parks study. One key driver for this group of Hispanic pay TV consumers is the appeal of premium movie channels, with 58% of this group noting their appeal. Some 41% of respondents in this group noted that they are subscribing to these offerings because the content is not available via OTT services, Parks said.

“At one time, many operators required that consumers subscribe to a base package of primarily English-language channels in order to purchase a bundle of Spanish-language channels,” Sappington said. “Today, Spanish-language services are evolving to better meet the needs of the consumers who demand them. New services are emerging that cater to this segment, including services such as Sling Latino and Univision Now.”

West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Olympusat is the latest to respond to this growing demand, and has collaborated with Philadelphia-based streaming video service FlixFling in delivering “Spanish-language premium video” to the latter’s users. The VOD content deal with FlixFling will enable consumers to subscribe to the following channels:

• Cine Real, a contemporary movie channel offering Spanish-language titles from Latin America and Spain, including popular genres such as action, drama, comedies and romance;

• Damas, a Spanish-language entertainment channel featuring lifestyle programming for Hispanic women and both current and classic telenovelas;

• Pio Pio, developed entirely for preschoolers, this channel includes educational, values-oriented and entertaining Spanish-language content;

• Parables, a faith-based English-language entertainment channel featuring movies, series, documentaries, children's programming and original productions that inspire one story at a time;

• Parables en Español, which offers a combination of inspirational movies, series, documentaries and original productions in a faith-based family entertainment environment;

• and TOKU, an English-dubbed channel delivering the most popular and sought after live-action fiction titles, anime, and cult classics from Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand.

Cine Real, Damas and Pio Pio will be available for FlixFling subscribers by the fourth quarter. Parables, Parables en Español and Toku are set to launch in early 2017.

“We are thrilled to partner with FlixFling as we continue to greatly expand our digital footprint in the U.S. and Latin America,” Tom Mohler, CEO of Olympusat, said in a statement. “We are proud to offer a huge influx of top-rated new releases to their customers while making our brands available to a wider audience, and giving them the content they want.”

FlixFling is a unique hybrid service offering movies and television, to rent or buy on demand, as well as multiple monthly subscription channel offerings. Subscription packages for each of Olympusat's channels will be available for monthly prices ranging from $3.99 to $4.99 per channel, the company said.

“We are very excited to further diversify the content we offer to our customers and appeal to the Spanish-speaking market. Olympusat has an impressive content lineup that we are sure will appeal to a broad audience,” FlixFling CEO Thomas Ashley said.

Los Vaqueros are coming to three Azteca América stations in the Lone Star State.

The National Football League's Dallas Cowboys have struck a deal with Azteca América that will make O&Os KDVF in San Antonio, KDAF in Austin and KYDF in Corpus Christi official Spanish-language partners of one of pro football's most-storied franchises. 

Under the two-year deal, announced late in July, the three stations will telecast live, Cowboys-produced preseason games announced by Victor Villalba and Luis Fernando Pérez. The 2016 broadcast schedule is comprised of Cowboys games versus the Miami Dolphins on Friday, August 19, at 7 p.m. (CT), the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday, August 25, at 9 p.m. (CT) and the Houston Texans on Thursday, Sep. 1 at 7 p.m. (CT). Pregame shows will precede the Cowboys' home games against Miami and Houston.

Once the regular season kicks off, the stations will air a monthly, Spanish-language edition of Cowboys Report.

Luis Hernandez, GM of KVDF, tells Multichannel News the games are fully produced by Cadena de Plata Radio, the Cowboys' Spanish-language radio and television network, with sales opportunities and promotional efforts left to the Azteca América stations.

“The team already has a dedicated effort to reaching the Hispanic market, as the Cowboys are a very beloved and respected club in the Hispanic community,” Hernandez said. “They are the most popular of the two NFL teams in Texas.”

A section of the Dallas Cowboys’ official website — Somos Cowboys, sponsored by Ford — is dedicated to Spanish-speaking fans. The regularly updated @somoscowboys Twitter feed is also available for Spanish speakers, as is the Somos Cowboys Facebook page.

Telemundo-owned KDVA in San Antonio aired the team's Spanish-language preseason games last season; Austin and Corpus Christi are new Spanish-language markets for the team. In addition to Dallas-Fort Worth, other Cowboys Spanish-language markets are Abilene, Bryan-College Station, El Paso, Lubbock, McAllen-Harlingen-Brownsville, and Waco.

While Hernandez could not speak of the reasons behind the Cowboys’s shift from Telemundo to Azteca América in San Antonio, he notes that the Cowboys were impressed by his stations’ “ability to be pretty nimble and to pre-empt network programming in order to run live team broadcasts.” He added that Azteca’s corporate executives saw the opportunity to gain viewers with the Cowboys and raised no objection to pre-empting network programming.

Sales efforts are a bit lagging, Hernandez admitted. “We’re a little behind the eight-ball, as most Fortune 500 brands completed their media planning in late June," he said. "We have four of five brands that have expressed interest, and they represent a combination of local, national and regional brands. Texas brands are a natural match, of course.”

Hernandez said he expects to reveal the sponsors by the second week of August, while continuing to work closely with local businesses to create customized programs.

“We are very excited to be aligned with Azteca América as the provider of our Spanish-language broadcasts for the Dallas Cowboys preseason games and Cowboys-related programming,” Cowboys executive vice president Jerry Jones Jr. said. “We have always been grateful for the loyal fans who have watched our Spanish-language broadcasts through the years, and that is especially true for the strong fan followings in San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi.”

Villalba’s first turn at calling Cowboys games in Spanish came in 1996, as a color commentator for the team’s radio broadcasts. A season later, he added the roles of producer and host of the team’s Spanish-language TV broadcasts to his resume. After a stint away from the team, he returned in 2002, with affiliate relations expanding to Mexico a year later. He’s been with the Cowboys ever since, and since 2005 also serves as the Spanish-language play-by-play announcer for the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks.

On-air partner Perez has been with the Cowboys since 2004. From June 2009 to November 2013, he also served as co-host for Zona ESPN on ESPN Deportes Radio AM 1540 in Dallas.

Since the 2012 NFL season, all of the league’s broadcasting partners have added Spanish-language coverage of some regular-season games, either through SAP on a Spanish-language network. Some games aired by NBC also air on NBC Universo; select Fox telecasts also air on Fox Deportes; and ESPN Deportes airs all of sister network ESPN's Monday Night Football games. ESPN Deportes also aired a Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, through a sublicensing deal with English-language rightsholder CBS.

New for the 2016-2017 season, the Denver Broncos have teamed up with Telemundo O&O KDEN in Denver for Tiempo Extra con Los Broncos, a 30-minute live highlights show beginning Sunday, Aug. 14, and running through Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. It’s the first-ever team-focused broadcast on Spanish-language television in Denver.

Other teams that have forged pre-season Spanish-language coverage agreements in recent season include the Green Bay Packers, with WYTU in Milwaukee; and Miami Dolphins, with Azteca affiliate WWHB in West Palm Beach.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears in June inked a Hispanic marketing agreement with local shop PACO Collective, which has been working with baseball's Chicago White Sox since 2010.

“Professional football is the most popular sport in America, and yet, when it comes to Hispanic audiences we still have to invite this segment through culturally relevant content and conversations to evolve from fans to family,” Paco CEO Ozzie Godinez said in a statement. “We’re going to be helping the Chicago Bears make sure they gain the most Hispanic engagement in Chicagoland and across the U.S. by appealing to the sense of community that drives NFL fan support and game attendance.”

Some 8.7% of NFL game viewers are Hispanic, according to Nielsen. That’s up from 5.5% in 2004.

Research conducted for ESPN shows the NFL as the second-most popular sport among Latino television viewers, behind soccer. Among Latinos who prefer to consume media in English, however, the NFL is by far the leader.

In related Azteca América news, the network is mourning the loss of veteran executive Roel Medina, who died unexpectedly at his home July 30 in Katy, Texas at the age of 55. Medina had served as GM of Azteca’s KYAZ in Houston since 2012.

Prior to joining Azteca Houston, Medina spent 11 years at Telemundo, where he served as a station general manager in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, respectively. He earlier worked for Univision, where he was Director of Marketing and Creative at KXLN in Houston.

“Roel Medina was creative force and a hard working executive who was ‘one of a kind,’” Azteca América CEO Manuel Abud said. “Above all, he was a man of deep convictions and a big heart. He was deeply committed to the Texas communities his stations served.”

Azteca Station Group executive vice president Enrique Perez added: “Roel made enormous contributions to our station group and company. He was a brilliant, beloved leader, not only for Azteca, but also within the entire Texas television community, which knew him so well and for so long.”

ESPN said Freddy Rolón has been named vice president and general manager of ESPN Deportes, where he has served since 2004 and, since 2011, has been VP of programming and business initiatives.

Lino Garcia, who had been GM of ESPN Deportes since before the Spanish-language service launched in 2004, left as part of the layoffs and restructurings in October 2015 that were planned to eliminate about 300 positions, ESPN said today. Rolón reports to Russell Wolff, the executive VP and managing director of ESPN International, whose role includes the sports programmer's international and U.S. Hispanic businesses. (Garcia had reported to Traug Keller, the senior VP of ESPN Audio, and Rolón will continue to work with Keller on ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPN said.)

Rolón also will work closely with Gerardo Casanova, vice president and general manager, ESPN Latin America North (Mexico and Central America), on audience and content development, ESPN said, citing new Mexico City studios as assets that can be drawn on to maximize the engagement of Mexican and U.S. Hispanic sports fans.

Rolón will oversee all aspects of the ESPN Deportes business, including the ESPN Deportes television network, "and will work closely with ESPN’s programming, production, audio, digital and print media teams, to maximize the relevance and appeal of ESPN’s English-language products to U.S. Hispanic fans."

“Freddy brings an expert blend of market intelligence, content know-how, brand knowledge and leadership to his new role,” Wolff said in a release. “The collaboration between Freddy and Gerardo will also help us find creative and innovative ways to best serve U.S. Hispanic fans on all of ESPN’s platforms.”

“ESPN is perfectly poised to serve the growing U.S. Hispanic audience in both Spanish and English,” Rolón said in the release. “We have tremendous expertise within the ESPN Deportes team, in addition to company-wide support for our efforts. I’m excited to work with this talented team of professionals to develop ESPN’s English, Spanish and bi-lingual strategies, and to identify new opportunities to propel our business forward.”

For the third year in a row, U.S. audiences will have a choice of channels on which to watch the National Football League’s title game — they’ll just need to know how to speak Spanish.

Through a sublicensing deal struck with rights-holder CBS, ESPN Deportes will simulcast Super Bowl 50 in Spanish on Feb. 7. The Spanish-language channel has simulcast English-language sibling ESPN’s NFL games, including Monday Night Football, since 2006.  

The deal, which came together in late December, means the biggest event in U.S. television will have a Spanish-language home for the third consecutive season. NBC simulcast its coverage in 2015 with co-owned network NBCUniverso; Fox did the same in 2014 with its Fox Deportes network.

CBS, which doesn’t own a Spanish-language TV network, worked with the NFL to reach terms with ESPN Deportes.

“We’re excited to partner with CBS and ESPN Deportes,” NFL executive vice president of media Brian Rolapp said. “We are committed to delivering our games in customized ways to serve our growing Hispanic fan base, and look forward to connecting with our fans on Super Bowl Sunday on [both of these networks].”

ESPN Deportes already airs postseason games, having televised the Jan. 9 AFC Wild Card game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, simulcast in English by The Walt Disney Co. corporate siblings ESPN and ABC. It will also pair with ESPN to telecast the Pro Bowl on Jan. 31.

The rest of the NFL playoffs are televised exclusively by English-speaking networks, with Spanish audio available via SAP.

This approach has its limitations. For instance, during Jan. 9’s CBS broadcast of the Pittsburgh Steelers’s Wild Card victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, the SAP feed didn’t match what was seen on-screen, including a pre-kickoff interview conducted by CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson.

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus didn’t want to take such an approach with the big game.

“As the broadcaster of Super Bowl 50, it was a priority for us to find a Spanish-language partner to reach the NFL’s Hispanic fan base,” he said. “The ESPN Deportes presentation will be a great complement to our broadcast.”

ESPN’s game coverage of Super Bowl 60 will begin at 6 p.m. (ET) from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., with the Monday Night Football Team of play-by-play announcer Alvaro Martin, color commentator Raul Allegre and sideline reporter John Sutcliffe. A 90-minute pre-game show will start at 4:30 p.m. (ET); postgame coverage will also follow.

The NFL has made great strides in seeking to best connect with Hispanic sports fans. According to the 2010 ESPN Deportes Poll, in addition to research conducted independently by Experian Marketing Services, the NFL had a lower passion score than Spain’s first-division soccer league among all U.S. Latinos.

Single out bilingual Hispanics, though, and the NFL is among the most popular sports properties. Among English-speaking Hispanics, the NFL ranks No. 1 among all professional sports leagues, according to Experian.

Securing domestic Spanish-language TV rights to North America’s premier sporting event reflects ESPN Deportes’s commitment to growing the NFL’s Hispanic fan base, vice president of programming and business initiatives Freddy Rolon told Hispanic Television Update in an exclusive interview.

“There has been a long-term commitment to building the fan base, and this is just a continuation of that commitment,” he said. “Hopefully we can continue having the big game in the future.”

In years past, excitement and anticipation about Super Bowl commercials was perhaps more fervent than for the game itself. As ESPN is now an option and with no 360-degree sales opportunity (as their was with Fox and NBCUniversal), what does this say about the evolving Super Bowl buy?

“Our sales team is out in the market with a package that includes Super Bowl programming across ESPN and ESPN Deportes,” Rolon said. “We can offer both the game on ESPN Deportes and game content across our other platforms.”

ESPN Deportes Radio will broadcast the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year, as part of a separate media-rights deal.

Was there concern from media buyers and planners, advertisers and/or agencies about a viewer dip in CBS’s ratings due to viewers shifting to ESPN Deportes? Or were media buyers excited about a new opportunity to reach Hispanics who prefer to consume Spanish-language media?

“We are adding to the overall audience of the Super Bowl,” Rolon said. “We are reaching a broader audience, and we are serving an audience that hasn’t really been served before. The Super Bowl is a cultural event, and now we are giving Spanish-speaking fans the option to watch the event on a platform that is directed to them.”

Rolon continued: “There’s a demand for fans to watch sports in a fully immersed environment. They want to see the facts, teams and results in a targeted way. Their experience is a hundred times better when all of the graphics align to what they see.”

Rolon declined to disclose financial terms, saying only that CBS and ESPN Deportes “saw a great opportunity on working together to offer the game in Spanish. With the NFL’s input, we quickly agreed to find a way to make a deal.”

NBC Universo has expanded its universe of successful English-language primetime series that can now be viewed on the network enespañol.

The network will air Heroes, the sci-fi drama that aired from 2006 to 2010 on NBC, at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays as of Nov. 18. Heroes is meant to complement reality show Superhermanos du Stan Lee,which will air back-to-back episodes at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. NBC Universo describes Superhermanos as “a daring series that showcases people from around the world with real life super powers.”

The show, which airs on History in English as Stan Lee’s Superhumans, is “hosted” by comic-book icon Lee and contortionist Daniel Browning Smith; audio is dubbed into Spanish.

“Featuring a diverse cast, Heroes is an iconic series that incorporates elements of fantasy and action that resonates with our Latino viewers,” NBC Universo vice president of program acquisitions and sourcing Jorge Balleste said in a statement. “We are pleased to add this series to our programming lineup alongside Superhumanos de Stan Lee as we continue to solidify our sci-fi offerings.”

The network also said it will soon add its first Zombinovela to its lineup, with dubbed-in-Spanish episodes of AMC’s megahit The Walking Dead — basic cable’s highest-rated scripted series — set to appear on the network early next year. NBC Universo will begin airing episodes from seasons 1 through 3.

And fans of the irreverent long-running Comedy Central animated series South Park can now follow the adventures of Stan, Kyle, Cartman and others in Spanish on NBC Universo. The series has aired at 10 p.m. on Monday nights since Oct. 26.

“By adding South Park to our already bold programming lineup, NBC Universo is going where no other Spanish cable network has gone before,” NBC Universal vice president of programming Arelys Carballo said in a prepared statement. “South Park adds an exciting twist to our lineup.”

The arrival of more shows bilingual and English-dominant viewers have likely had access to in English for years comes following the Oct. 20 addition of FX’s Prison Break with all-Spanish dialogue to the NBC Universo lineup.

Interestingly, the acquisition of The Walking Dead is the final programming move NBC Universo president Rubén Mendiola made for the network.

Mendiola has left amid a restructuring at NBCUniversal that gives Telemundo president Luis Silberwasser additional duties as head of NBC Universo. Mendiola was named president of NBC Universo in May 2014 and was charged with the network’s transition from mun2.

“We have decided to adjust our cable network’s structure in line with traditional cable channels operating within a portfolio and to ensure we are best positioned for future growth,” NBC Universo said in a statement. “We thank Ruben for all his dedication, passion and hard work in building NBC Universo from the ground up. We appreciate very much all he has done for the company and wish him the best in his next projects.”

Mark Lopez has been an hombre ocupado since taking the helm of Univision Communications’s digital-facing initiatives in April.

The former Google executive, now executive vice president and general manager of Univision Digital, has helped the Spanish-language media firm rapidly spool up a variety of projects, including a partnership with Snapchat; the debut of a mobile app that turns viewers into a judge for La Banda, the music- focused reality show; the launch of a fantasy soccer service based on Liga MX; and Univision’s “Creator Network” that taps into online video’s growing talent pool.

Next TV editor Jeff Baumgartner recently spoke with Lopez about these new projects and their role in Univision’s digital transformation. An edited transcript follows.

NTV:What was the big driver in your decision to join Univision?

Mark Lopez: I think the projects we’re putting together here are a great opportunity. When you look at the U.S. market opportunity and the consumers who make up that opportunity, the bulk of that growth is within the multicultural consumer.

Univision is uniquely positioned to go after that opportunity from the standpoint of the assets that the company has — the brand affi nity that the Hispanic consumer has … the amount of experience with content development the company has historically, and currently the focus that [Univision has] to really bulk up [its] digital assets.

When you look at all of that, it provides a great platform to really build a very unique project, which, to me, is really about a next-generation media company going after the multicultural consumer, the growth consumer in the U.S. That’s really what attracted me to come to Univision to put that together.

NTV:Now that you’ve been on board for about six months, what are your top priorities as 2015 wraps up and we head into 2016?

ML: For us, the acceleration of our digital business is paramount — getting to scale faster when it comes to our core Hispanic consumer. We define scale as both extending our TV content and programming onto the digital realm and finding additional, incremental distribution areas for that content, whether that’s … YouTube, Snapchat or also extending into second-screen apps like the Screenz [an interactive TV developer] app that we’ve done.

It’s about scaling that piece, but also looking at digital-only opportunities as we develop original content and as we help our other assets outside our core Spanish-language area develop and grow faster.

NTV:We’ve seen an increasing number of programmers develop and launch direct-to-consumer offerings that play outside of the traditional programmer-distributor dynamic. Is this something Univision will also have to consider — a standalone digital service that features your primary offerings?

ML: I think we have opportunities to leverage our brand … to develop digital-only content initiatives, whether that’s original programming, whether that is tapping into the influencer market through the Univision Creator Network, or partnering with production houses like what we’re doing with Dirty Kitchen out of Colombia to develop original content.

We want to piggyback on what we currently have to develop, versus doing it all from scratch.

For us, the multicultural Hispanic space is a space that we have a ton of experience with our brand that spans 30 years, and we think that we can win in this space when it comes to digital.

NTV:Is a big digital presence still a nice-to-have complement, or has it become critical table stakes?

ML: When we look at our audience footprint, we really look holistically at what we have with both linear and digital. Univision as a whole reaches close to 40 million media consumers monthly. We know that the growth [along] those touch points is going to come mainly from digital. That’s why it’s critical for us. To develop the footprint and the scale, which we currently have, we want to accelerate but also to develop the knowhow to go after that consumer across the board.

NTV:What’s the biggest challenge in reaching consumers via digital? Finding ways to reach them when compared to how it’s done via traditional TV?

ML: I think reach and engagement is a challenge, but it also goes around the capabilities of provisioning content for each of the distribution windows that you’re going against.

It’s very different for us when we produce content for our O&O properties than it is for producing content with our UCN partners for YouTube [or] producing comedy content across Flama or even doing a Snapchat Live Story with our soccer content. All of those things bring different capabilities to the table and I think the winners will be the ones that can develop across all of those windows that matter and get content in front of consumers.

NTV:Let’s talk a bit about some specific digital-facing projects that are underway, starting with the Snapchat partnership. How did that come together, and what results have you seen so far?

ML: [Snapchat is] a very important window for a lot of our programming. Initially, we worked with them on our sports content to develop Live Stories for our live soccer matches, our U.S.-Mexico matches that they could basically promote on their Live Story feed. That worked very well, basically developing incremental audience for that content.

When you can develop 2 [million] to 3 million additional unique users out of that event, it’s definitely incremental in nature. From there, we really have migrated to develop more content pieces that we can distribute through Snapchat holistically among other distribution networks.

NTV:Univision’s Conecta app ties in engagement across Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat, Vine, YouTube and Twitter, allowing users to become La Banda’s “fourth judge.” How has this helped to increase engagement with the show?

ML: We developed that in partnership with Screenz. We ran that against La Banda, which is our reality show focused on music and it provides tremendous engagement during the show … Conecta allows us to get, on average, 30 minutes of extra engagement with that audience through the app.

NTV:Your Creator Network is an outlet for YouTubers and Viners. How is Univision leveraging that program, and are you making some of that content available through TV and digital?

ML: You could see the UCN [Univision Creator Network] being a standard MCN [multichannel network], but it’s not by any means. What we’re trying to do first is listen to what is trending in the marketplace — some of these creators are producing amazing content — and see what opportunities we have to bring them into both our tentpole events and with linear programming.

NTV:How do you pick who gets selected for that? Do they register or apply?

ML: As part of our UCN, we have a dedicated team that works with our creators. We work with the long tail as well as the fat tail. We work with the up-and-coming creators that have potentially very low traffic on YouTube … and want to go on and create more long-form video.

I would say that a lot of it is trial and error, but also it’s getting deeper relationships with the content creators and having the assets and the team in place to be able to do that. It’s critical for us, because that’s where the next generation talent will come from.

NTV:Univision Deportes launched its own soccer fantasy league in the U.S. this summer. What kind of a following has that seen since its launch? Is that purely ad-supported?

ML: We saw an opportunity to develop soccer-related fantasy product. We decided to launch our own that’s ad-supported, so we have partners like Ford. It’s scaling very nicely and focusing on soccer and what … we can bring on TV and [turning] that into a fantasy experience online.

Our hope for that is to take this dedicated audience and keep growing it and potentially continue to scale the advertising business, and look at potential ways to partner with [companies] that have different business models besides advertising.

NTV:In addition to locking in more engagement with viewers, particularly millennials, how are you monetizing some of these digital efforts? Have you blocked off some separate ad inventory for this, or are you looking at complementary subscription-based offerings?

ML: On the advertising side, I think we need to bring the entire message out to the marketplace. It is complementary to each other … We have current relationships with Hulu and with Netflix and with new services that are coming into the marketplace, like the new Verizon [go90] service. Our goal is also to become strategic partners from a content perspective to other distributors and partners, so we can balance a little bit of the revenue mix and it’s not all depending on advertising.

In a Sept. 10 staff memo, Fusion CEO Isaac Lee said the network would lay off staffers following an examination of the operations and programming strategy at the Miami-based joint venture between Univision and Disney-ABC Television Group. News of the memo and layoffs first surfaced in published reports in mid-September.

With the restructuring, Fusion in 2016 will focus on three main areas of programming: U.S. presidential election coverage, investigative special reports and “topical comedy” programming. New shows will include 12 new enterprise projects and Traffic, an eight-hour miniseries about black market trading around the world.

Among the canceled shows are Come Here and Say That, the weekly pop-culture show hosted by Alicia Menendez. Menendez will now serve as chief election and immigration correspondent for weekly news show America With Jorge Ramos.

Soccer Gods, a weekday sports show hosted by Simon Carr and Nando Vila, is now available via podcast.

Fusion launched in 2013 as a general-interest network super-serving Latino millennials. However, the network has struggled while its digital home — Fusion.net — has seen traffic leap from 5.8 million visitors in July 2015 to 8.3 million in September, Lee said in the internal memo.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission report filed by Univision earlier this year, the programmer reported $28 million in revenue and $63 million of expenses for Fusion.

Univision-owned KMEX in Los Angeles outperformed not only local rivals KABC-TV, KNBC, Fox-owned KTTV and KCBS-TV with its early-evening and late-evening newscasts, but every other station in the nation among sdults 18-49 in September.

It’s KMEX’s third consecutive month as the top-rated station in the U.S. for early prime and late local news.

“Our local stations are the hearts and voices of their communities, and this is true nowhere more so than Los Angeles,” Kevin Cuddihy, Univision Communications president of local media, said. “Our KMEX team has done a remarkable job centering newscasts on issues that are important to our viewers in this market. I am proud to say that more people turn to Univision’s local evening news in Los Angeles than in any other market in the country, and our numbers keep growing. This proves the power of our deep ties with the L.A. community and solidifies our position as the pre-eminent source for critical information important to Hispanics.”

KMEX averaged 138,000 viewers for its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. By comparison, the top English-language station — KNBC — averaged 114,000 viewers.

Additionally, the average audience for KMEX’s Noticias 34 at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. increased by 20% in September compared to the same period a year ago.

The strong afternoon and evening ratings for KMEX’s local news strongly contrast with its local news performance in mornings. The station’s primary Spanish-language rival, Telemundo-owned KVEA, has enjoyed top-dog status among all adults 18-34 with its two-hour block from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. As a result, KMEX in June retooled its pre-Despierta América local wakeup programming with A Primera Hora.

A Primera Hora features segments on such topics as lifestyle, culture, entertainment, community affairs and technology, in addition to straight-ahead news, traffic and weather.

September Nielsen data for A Primera Hora was not released by KMEX and unavailable at press time.

LOS ANGELES -- Three years ago, Fox Hispanic Media turned on the lights and soft-launched MundoFox, a new Spanish-language broadcast network targeting U.S. Hispanics.

MundoFox was designed from the get-go as an ambitious stab at a sophisticated Latino audience that craved more than the “Cinderella”-style telenovela or family oriented live variety show.

With sleek scripted dramas, a popular early prime game show adapted from Family Feud, and a strong emphasis on local and national news, MundoFox entered the scene with gusto, its executives confident it would eventually rival Univision Communications’ No. 2 network, TeleFutura (now UniMas), for viewers. That day will never come for MundoFox.

On July 16, Colombia’s RCN Television Group — Fox International Channels’ joint-venture partner in the Fox Hispanic Media-managed network — announced it had purchased 21st Century Fox’s interest in MundoFox. Also gone is the Fox brand, as the network is now known as MundoMax.

And RCN has said goodbye to roughly 35 journalists associated with the national Noticias MundoFox newscasts, which have been “canceled” as part of the wholesale rebranding.

News programming is expected to return in 2016, however, as RCN executives are reviewing MundoMax’s entire programming slate.

"RCN is excited to be carrying on the MundoFox network that we started jointly with our partner FIC," said Morales, whose resume includes a stint as president of Telemundo Station Group.  "We look forward to serving the remarkably vibrant and dynamic U.S. Hispanic community with our successful programs and are proud to dedicate our efforts to the continuous growth and success of the network.”

One notable holdover from MundoFox is the hour-long 100 Latino Dijeron, the Family Feud-style game show that emerged as one of its lone ratings successes. The competition program still airs at 7 p.m. weeknights. Also still on the primetime lineup is the Tims Productions telenovela Suleimán, El Gran Sultán, dubbed into Spanish from its original Turkish (Muhteşem Yüzyıl).

At 9 p.m. weeknights is La Guerrera, a dubbed-into-Spanish version of Rede Globo’s Brazilian soap opera Salve Jorge. At 10 p.m., affiliates such as Meruelo Media’s KWHY Los Angeles will continue to air local news. KWHY will now air the 30-minute Noticias MundoMax 22 weeknights at 5 p.m. and at 10 p.m. Veteran news anchor José Ronstadt, widely known for his time at Telemundo-owned KVEA, co-anchors KWHY’s newscasts with station veteran Palmira Perez.

It was not known at press time if other affiliates would continue their 30-minute local newscasts.

MundoFox until July 27 aired a 10:30 p.m. national newscast anchored by Rolando Nichols and originating from Los Angeles. Nichols in the mid-2000s anchored a now-defunct newscast for TeleFutura (now UniMás).

Today, the studio is dark; it is believed Nichols and correspondents Carolina Sarassa and Max Aub are all seeking new opportunities. The Los Angeles studio made MundoFox the only Spanish-language network serving U.S. Hispanics with a newsroom outside of the Eastern time zone.

Replacing the national newscast, which also aired at 5:30 p.m. on MundoFox’s more than 50 affiliates, is the reality exposé show Most Shocking.

RCN informed the multicultural marketing and advertising community of MundoMax’s official launch with a promotional spot on its website featuring the tagline, “Live to The Max.”

One advertiser has already signed on with MundoMax, automaker Dodge. Thirty-second commercials, featuring Machete actor Danny Trejo in character, appear on the MundoMax.com website, which features detailed program information and sections devoted to sports, horoscopes, and health and beauty.

Meanwhile, Fox Hispanic Networks continues, with Spanish-language cable television networks Nat Geo Mundo, Fox Life and Fox Deportes as its three U.S. offerings. Tom Maney remains as executive vice president of Fox Hispanic Networks. Andy Checo, MundoFox’s former director of publicity and community affairs, has joined public-relations firm Havas Formula in New York as a director. 

The studio-produced program, Soy TED, bows Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. In each episode, invited guests will take ideas from previous TED Talks and adapt them for U.S. Latinos, presenting advice and suggestions in a culturally relevant way.

“When we looked at new ways to channel ideas from TED speakers to communities most likely to shape American society over the next decade, we kept coming back to the U.S. Hispanic,” Deron Triff, TED’s director of global distribution and licensing, said. “Here’s a group whose power and potential to transform America is accelerating rapidly. We thought, if we can bring new knowledge to this audience, the possibilities for inspiration and, ultimately, action could be very interesting.”

Triff hopes to link other media companies, corporations and organizations to TED’s collaboration with Vme, “opening doors to share, promote and find ideas worth spreading from the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S.,” he said. The series also opens up sponsorship opportunities for Vme, which, unlike the PBS-member stations that carry its multicast signal, is not a public-television operation and can accept certain types of advertising.

Caracas, Venezuela-born entrepreneur Eduardo Hauser, an AOL veteran who is the founder of personalized news platform DailyMe, will host Soy TED.

Special guests slated to participate include former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz, the record holder for most space flights, and Carlos Páez, one of 16 survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 who spent 72 days in the mountain peaks of the Andes. CNN en Español journalist Ismael Cala will also appear.

“At Vme TV, we believe that smart, thoughtful television content directed at a new generation of curious, upwardly mobile Latinos will influence important advancements in America,” Hauser said. “With the increasing influence of our culture, we have a unique opportunity to share the wisdom of TED’s speakers in Spanish. We are very proud that TED has chosen Vme TV to be their television vehicle in reaching the U.S. Hispanic audience and are excited about the potential to attach other partners to this initiative that can extend across media and events.”

Vme debuted in 2007 as the first Spanish-language television network linked with the nation’s English-language public-television stations. Vme TV can be seen in 43 markets across the U.S.

Sling TV, Dish Network’s OTT service for cord-cutters, has launched Sling Latino, an offering led up by two Spanish-language packs – Paquete Total and Paquete Esencial.

The baseline single-stream Paquete Total service, featuring 22 live channels, runs $12 per month; while Paquete Esencial, a 16-channel offering fetches $7 per month.

Both services also include on-demand content (soon to include shows from Univision), a three-day replay on select channels. They can also be paired with Sling TV’s core $20 per month English-language package, but unlike some of Sling TV’s other programming packages, it’s not a requirement.

Sling Latino customers have the option to purchase two additional streams for $5 per month.

Sling TV also introduced two country-specific a la carte packs for $7 per month each -- Colombia and España.

Those additions follow Sling TV’s launch of two Spanish language add-ons that run $5 each per month: Deportes Extra, which now includes ESPN Deportes; and Películas & Novelas Extra. Those packages, however, require that subs take Sling TV’s core English language service.

“Whether viewers are solely interested in Spanish-language programming or are looking to supplement an English line-up with a few Spanish channels, Sling Latino is a flexible, affordable and mobile way to connect viewers with the best of Latino programming,” said Roger Lynch, Sling TV CEO. “Providing this connection remains fundamental to who we are, and we have been eager to give Hispanic viewers a new and contemporary way to watch Spanish-language TV.”

Here’s how the new services and packages stack up:

Paquete Total ($12 per month): Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, Univision Deportes Network, beIN Sports en Español, Azteca, Az Clic, Cinelatino, De Película, De Película Clásico, BabyTV, Cbeebies, Pasiones, NTN24, Univision tlnovelas, Az Corazón, Telehit, Bandamax, FOROtv, TeleFórmula, with AZ Cinema and Teleromántica coming soon.

Paquete Esencial ($7 per month): Azteca, Az Clic, Cinelatino, De Película, De Película Clásico, BabyTV, Cbeebies, beIN Sports en Español, Pasiones, Univision tlnovelas, Az Corazón, Telehit, Bandamax, FOROtv. AZ Cinema and Teleromántica will be added soon.

Colombia Pack ($7 per month, as a standalone pack, or as an add-on to Paquete Total, Paquete Esencial or the Best of Live TV English core pack. It): Nuestra Tele and NTN24, with RCN Novelas coming soon.

España Pack ($7 per month, as a standalone pack, or as an add-on to Paquete Total, Paquete Esencial or the Best of Live TV English core pack): Antena 3 and TV Española Internacional. MIS Películas and SupereÑe will be coming soon.

With an eye on Hispanics, YipTV has launched as the latest over-the-top service capable of bringing Spanish-language offerings to U.S. Hispanics without the need for a cable or satellite-TV provider.

Marketing itself as “Your Individual, Personalized TV,” YipTV is being introduced to U.S. Latinos for a subscritipn price of $14.99 per month, contract-free. Users can access YipTV (https://www.yiptv.com/) via smart TVs, laptop or desktop computers and Android- or iOS-powered smartphones. Apple TV and Google Chromecast can also support YipTV.

YipTV is launching with 50 channels from across the globe. Among the Spanish-language offerings are beIN Sports, Mexico’s Azteca, Spain’s Antena 3, Colombian news channel NTN24, pan-Latin American network Canal Sur, and Argentina’s TyC Sports.

YipTV promises to add additional Spanish-language channels “in coming months.”

Michael Tribolet, CEO and co-founder of YipTV, said Internet-based OTT technology allows for an explosion of channel options catering to some 40 million U.S. consumers that do not have cable or satellite services in the home.

"Advancements in technology have made the world seem smaller and smaller," Tribolet said. "YipTV is now using the latest technology to expand entertainment options and provide value to the customer.  We are not just reorganizing the way people access channels that have been available for years. With YipTV, people can watch programs that they are familiar with at a reasonable price. They can watch live news broadcasts from the city where they grew up, or share an experience with loved ones back home.”

Tribolet is a former president of voice-over-Internet protocol telephony pioneer Vonage Holdings who's based in West Palm Beach, Fla., and New Brunswick, N.J., and has been working toward the YipTV launch for more than three years.

Me Pongo de Pie, the Televisa-supplied reality show produced by Ruben and Santiago Galindo, debuted on Univision at 8 p.m. on May 3.

Three judges — soloist and former Mecano singer Ana Torroja, best-selling pop star Cristian Castro and regional Mexican singer Espinoza Paz — will evaluate their performances with the help of a 100-member panel that will award points to the singers. Judges may veto the tallies.

The show, set to air for 10 weeks, started with 12 couples. Contestants with the fewest points will be sentenced or eliminated each week.

Serving as captains for the parent-child teams are six musicians who have enjoyed strong careers on the Mexican pop charts: Paty Cantú, Ha-Ash, Pee Wee, Río Roma, Noel Schajris and María León.

Galilea Montijo, host of the Televisa/Univision reality program Va Por Ti, co-hosts Me Pongo de Pie with Televisa Deportes host Vanessa Huppenkothen, a recent participant in the musical competition Bailando por un Sueño.

Me Pongo de Pie seeks to be an interactive viewing experience for those tuning to Univision. Fans can join the conversation on Twitter via @Univision as well as comment along with others on Facebook.com/Univision and Instagram @Univision using the hashtag #MePongodePie.

The arrival of the latest telenovela to feature veteran actress Kate Del Castillo, Dueños del Paraiso, may be weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped Telemundo from igniting the promo machine now.

In what it calls “an innovative multiplatform campaign” in partnership with Facebook, Telemundo is offering a first-look preview of the series exclusively at www.facebook.com/DuenosParaiso. At the same time, a Twitter account -- @DuenosParaiso -- has been created that allows fans to follow all of the latest news regarding the show.

Based on a screenplay by Pablo Illanes (¿Dónde está Elisa? and Alguien te Mira), Dueños del Paraiso is an original Telemundo Studios co-production with Television Nacional de Chile currently shooting on location in Miami and Chile with an ensemble cast of nearly 30 actors. Del Castillo is cast in the protagonist role as Anastasia Cardona, “a woman without a trace of innocence whose life has been derailed by violence and poverty.” Ambition lures her into the world of drug trafficking, making Dueños del Paraisoanother entry into the “narco-novela” subgenre.

“We are very excited to have Kate back in this major production, which features an excellent script and a spectacular cast of top-notch talent,” Josh Mintz, executive vice president for scripted programming and Telemundo Studios GM, said. “We are also proud to co-produce a super series for the first time with TVN Chile, a major producer of Spanish-language television content.” 

Mintz also serves as the executive producer of Dueños del Paraíso, working alongside supervising producers David Posada and Gemma Lombardi.

Del Castillo helped Telemundo in achieving new ratings heights for her role in the 2011 telenovela La Reina del Sur.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

So much for that quinceañera.

NBCUniversal’s mun2, which last month celebrated its 13th anniversary as a youth-targeted Hispanic basic-cable network, will dispose of its identity next Feb. 1.

In its place: “NBC Universo,” described by network president Rubén Mendiola as a “modern general-entertainment cable channel for Latinos.” The NBC Universo logo will prominently feature the iconic NBC peacock, while the network’s new name reinforces its ties to Comcast’s broadcast and cable-TV holdings — a move clearly designed to increase awareness among media buyers and, subsequently, boost ad revenue.

More significantly, the pending evolution of mun2 as it approaches adolescence to NBC Universo will instantly pit the rebranded entity directly against Univision’s Galavisión, the longtime ratings and revenue leader among Hispanic basic-cable networks. The move reinforces NBCUniversal’s quest to attack and topple Univision, widening its fight from broadcast TV to the cable sphere.

In prepared comments, Mendiola said: “We will super-serve the Latino community with a universe of exciting viewing options in ways that are compelling and culturally relevant. Through this strategy, we are building a high-quality cable TV channel that we believe distributors are ready to embrace, advertisers are ready to support, and viewers will be drawn to.”

Mun2’s success with live sporting events — along with NBCUniversal becoming the new home of U.S. Spanish-language World Cup coverage for the next several years — fueled its transition to NBC Universo. In fact, the network’s official rebirth is concurrent with its U.S.-exclusive Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX. (NBC has the English-language rights.)

In particular, mun2 has seen considerable ratings and revenue success with telecasts of the Barclays Premier League, England’s top-level soccer league. Additionally, mun2 will air five National Football League games during the 2014 season.

But it is the audience growth and pending revenue bonanza tied to FIFA World Cup coverage set to air over the next several years that makes NBC Universo a draw before it even debuts. As NBC Universo, the network in 2015 will air the Men’s FIFA U-20 World Cup, with coverage from New Zealand, from May 30-June 20. Concurrently, the network will feature coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, held in Canada, from June 6-July 5. NBC Universo will then feature coverage from the FIFA U-17 World Cup, to be held in Chile from Oct. 17-Nov. 8.

NBC Universo will also serve as the exclusive Spanish-language U.S. home to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series; and Spanish versions of the popular World Wrestling Entertainment programs WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown.

“Mun2 is now clearly well positioned to better serve its stakeholders across all its platforms,” NBCU chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content Joe Uva said. “The network’s transformation into a high-demand cable network is one of our company’s top priorities.”

To accomplish this, a shift to “Telemundo Deportes” was not made; such a move would have put NBCUniverso in a crowded marketplace with ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, beIN SPORT, Univision and Gol TV, in addition to niche networks imported from countries across Latin America.

Instead, NBC Universo will have an entertainment component — using a formula that has proven successful for Galavisión.

Staying on the programming grid for NBC Universo is the reality show A Toda Gloria, which follows the daily activities of Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi; Larrymania, a reality show featuring popular entertainer Larry Hernandez; and Fugitivos de la Ley, a true-life bounty hunter show.

It’s not yet known which mun2 shows will be getting the axe following its transformation to NBC Universo; specific programming details are slated to be released in early 2015, the network announced.

Mun2 was born out of the former Latina-focused basic-cable network GEMS Television, which originally launched in 1993.

Dirty Dancing was the surprise hit in the movie theaters, while songs from U2’s The Joshua Tree dominated the FM airwaves across the Southland.

The year was 1987 — which marked the last time Telemundo’s Los Angeles O&O, KVEA, defeated its longtime rival, Univision O&O KMEX, with its 11 p.m. newscast.

Until now.

In a historic feat, KVEA’s Noticiero Telemundo 52 was the most-watched local program in the all-important adults 18-49 demographic in the month of September, according to Nielsen. The 30-minute program averaged a 1.4 rating (or 107,000 impressions) in the demo, and averaged a 36% audience share among all other Spanish-language stations in the Los Angeles DMA in the time frame.

That puts KVEA ahead of not only KMEX, but four other Spanish-language TV stations. More notably, KVEA is now attracting more viewers aged 18-49 than the local newscasts of the Big Three’s O&Os  — KABC-TV, KCBS-TV and NBCUniversal sister station KNBC. It’s also beating out programming on Fox O&O KTTV and MyNetwork affiliate KCOP; Tribune Co.-owned The CW affiliate KTLA; and CBS’s news-intensive independent KCAL. 

“Securing the No. 1 spot in our market for this key demographic at 11 p.m., and — regardless of language — for the first time in 27 years, confirms that we are delivering our viewers the local news and information they want,” Celia Chavez, president and general manager of KVEA, said in a statement. “We have a dynamic news team that works passionately to provide our viewers with the information they need, and we will continue to deliver live, local breaking news and aggressive weather coverage for the communities we serve.”

KVEA’s 11 p.m. local newscast is anchored by Ana Patricia Candiani, a veteran reporter who returned to Telemundo in 2011 after an eight-year stint anchoring the network’s national primetime newscast — she stepped away in 2008 — as well as several other Telemundo news programs. Her experience includes roles as a morning news anchor for former Spanish news/talk radio network Radio Unica, as a news anchor for the now-defunct Spanish-language network CBS Telenoticias and as a programming supervisor for 20 radio stations in Mexico owned by Grupo Acir.

Candiani’s co-anchor at 11 p.m. is Edgar Muñoz, who joined KVEA in March after serving as a Mexico-based correspondent for Univision. He anchored Hechos, the primetime local newscast for KAZA, the Azteca América flagship station in Los Angeles, from 2003 to 2005.

KVEA’s ratings triumph is the culmination of a series of enhancements in 2013 and 2014 that included a new studio, a new graphics package and increased investigative reporting on a wide range of news stories. The station also moved its weekend newscast to 5:30 p.m. from 6 p.m., part of a network-wide scheduling mandate.

While Nielsen data is not available for KVEA’s weekend newscasts, indications are they’ve been successful: As of Nov. 3, the 5:30pm newscast will now air seven days a week, the network confirms. It’s part of a rollout of 30-minute local newscasts airing at 5:30pm ET/PT and 4:30pm CT/MT at  Telemundo stations in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, San Francisco and Tucson. Thirty additional staffers were added across 14 stations to boost the telecasts.

“This announcement marks a new era for the Telemundo Station Group and Spanish-language news,” Manuel Martinez, president of Telemundo Station Group, said. “All of our stations have a commitment to deliver the best local breaking news and weather to our viewers and this expansion will help us deliver the type of news coverage our viewers demand and deserve.”

As reported in the August edition of Hispanic Television Update, Telemundo has perhaps been the most aggressive player in news this year. Among the many changes: O&O KSTS in San Francisco now provides the only locally focused Spanish-language newscast airing before noon. In July, Telemundo announced that Las Vegas station KBLR would produce its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts live and locally. In late August, respected author and journalist Mirta Ojito returned from New York to Miami for the newly created role of director of news standards.

In its most recent moves, Telemundo O&O WSNS in Chicago has paired longtime Univision reporter Anabel Monge with current anchor Alfonso Gutierrez for its weekday 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. Monge was previously an anchor and general assignment reporter at KWEX in San Antonio, and has worked at Univision stations in Sacramento and Fresno.

Among the highly touted programming set to air on Mun2:

• A dubbed-into-Spanish take of the 2008-2009 Fox science fiction series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

• Spanish-language broadcasts of WWE, programming including Smackdown and WWE Raw

• The second year of Barclays Premier League football, live from England. This season’s opening matches aired Aug. 30 on mun2, as well as in English on sister service NBC Sports Network.

To capitalize on the increased popularity of Barclays Premier League matches, mun2 will re-air the matches immediately following live telecasts starting Oct. 4. The matches will also be available via streaming through selected pay TV providers and on VOD.

That’s not to say mun2 is giving up on programming originally produced in Spanish.

Debuting Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. and subsequently airing each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in that timeslot is the Colombian series Infiltrados. When the head of the nation’s Joint Intelligence Group is murdered on his birthday, Maj. Monica Umaña takes his place and must head the team that specializes in infiltrating criminal organizations and solving crime and violence in Colombia.

Additionally, Mun2 is banking on an original reality program starring Mexican entertainment icon Gloria Trevi, A Toda Gloria. The 13- episode series follows the fast-paced life of Trevi and gives fans behind-the-scenes access to the star as she gears up for a new tour.

“Gloria Trevi is one of the most exciting and provocative celebrities in Hispanic pop culture,” mun2 president Ruben Mendiola said.  “We are extremely proud to bring to our viewers a new reality series that will change the way they view one of the biggest stars in Spanish-language entertainment.”

The series is produced by Gloria Trevi and Cinemat, and executive produced by Gloria Medel Solomons for mun2.