If preliminary expectations and PR hype are accurate gauges of how a new addition to the fall primetime lineup will fare with viewers, Telemundo executives today are likely shouting “¡azuuuuuucar!”

That’s the sugar-filled Spanish-language shout that helped cement Celia Cruz as the global “Queen of Salsa.” Celia, the new telenovela adaptation of the salsa icon’s life, is expected to be the network’s queen of the 8 p.m. timeslot.

Celia is a first for Spanish-language broadcast television, as it borrows from the success of English-language primetime series Empire and Glee by injecting musical performances into the storyline.

Portraying Cruz in her younger years (in her acting debut) is Jeimy Osorio; Aymee Nuviola has been cast as the older Cruz. A contemporary salsa music star, La India, is contributing to the show’s soundtrack.

Meanwhile, in a first for Telemundo, the first three episodes of Celia were made available via video-on-demand ahead of the network premiere. Celia is a Fox Telecolombia production.

To help promote Celia, a special tribute to Celia Cruz was incorporated into the inaugural Latin American Music Awards, which aired as a live telecast Oct. 8 on Telemundo as its proprietary answer to rival Univision’s long-running Premio lo Nuestro a la Música Latina. The segment featured Osorio alongside co-star Modesto Lacen, with a medley of the songstress’ greatest hits performed by Nuviola and La India.

The Latin American Music Awards mirrors the long-running American Music Awards and is also produced by Dick Clark Productions.

Two high-profile Spanish-language sports figures have joined Fox Deportes’s stable of announcers.

Jessi Losada, one of the most visible anchors and reporters on  the Telemundo Deportes roster, has joined Fox Deportes and will call National Football League and college football games, as well as Premier Boxing Champions matches. His first assignment was a Sept. 22 PBC card with analyst Daniel Ponce de Leon, a retired champion boxer.

“We are pleased to add one of the industry’s all-time broadcasting heavyweights to our roster,” Fox Deportes executive vice president and general manager Carlos Sanchez said. “Losada is a highly respected and knowledgeable journalist and media personality with 37 years of experience who will help to deliver unmatched insights to our viewers. He has made great contributions not only to Hispanic television but to the industry as a whole, and we are thrilled that he is joining our team.”

At Telemundo, Losada hosted a variety of telecasts, including Titulares Telemundo, Boxeo Telemundo, Los Triunfadores and Junto Al Tri, a pre-game show produced for Mexican national soccer team telecasts. Boxeo Telemundo was U.S. TV’s most-watched boxing show regardless of language, according to the network.

Losada also served as an anchor for Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London. He is also the first person to offer Spanish-language play-by-play of a National Basketball Association game and an NFL game to U.S. audiences.

Losada began his broadcast career in Los Angeles with Spanish International Network (SIN), a predecessor to Univision.

Separately, a face familiar to Univision viewers can now be seen on the CONCACAF Cup coverage of Fox Sports 1, the English-language sibling of Fox Deportes. Fernando Fiore, best known for his 16-year run as host of Univision’s Republica Deportiva, served as a contributor to the network’s special 90-minute pre-game show ahead of the U.S.-Mexico match on Oct. 10.

Fiore also contributed to Fox Deportes’s pre-game coverage on Fox Deportes en Vivo.

The network did not elaborate on any future appearances for Fiore, who announced his departure from Univision in July 2014.  

When charged with bringing a large media company closer in ratings and revenue to its main competitor, it certainly helps to have the resources to “get the job done.”

Perhaps the greater challenge is finding the executive who can steward such a firm in a calculated-yet-aggressive manner.

NBCUniversal's Telemundo Network might have found that executive in August of 2014, when it successfully lured away Discovery Networks International executive vice president and chief content officer Luis Silberwasser, naming the 11-year cable-programming veteran as its new president.

Silberwasser and his team are now looking to close the gap against archrival Univision Communications, the Hispanic market's top media company. And they’ve seen some success.

Viewership in weekday primetime among adults 18-49 is up to an average 757,000 viewers from 697,000. And Telemundo has ranked No. 1 at 10 p.m. weeknights, regardless of language, in the 18-49 demo, since the third season of its "Super Series" telenovela El Señor de los Cielos bowed on April 21.

With NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations president Valari Staab and Telemundo Station Group president Manuel Martinez "laser-focused on making the stations better," Silberwasser told Hispanic Television Update in an exclusive interview that his next task is building on the network's 10 p.m. success with bolder telenovela lead-ins, a fresh take on reality programming and Telemundo’s first stab at a Saturday-night variety show.

A DIFFERENT SONG AND DANCE

Celia — a drama series inspired by the life and career of the late Cuban entertainment icon Celia Cruz — can be a game-changer for both Telemundo and for primetime telenovelas, Silberwasser said.

"We really wanted to define our programming strategy by looking what is working for us at 10 p.m. and why," Silberwasser said. "We used those insights and brought that same strategy to the rest of our primetime lineup. It is a special moment for Hispanics in America, and we saw the need for something new and different to grow our network.

“Celia is a story, with music,” he added. “It’s happy. It’s sad. It has all of the elements of drama and song that has worked [with English-language primetime dramas]. We saw it with Glee and with Empire, and introducing this new format to Hispanic television in the 8 p.m. hour is exciting. Our expectations are high.”

A period piece, Celia is produced by Fox Telecolombia and was filmed in Puerto Rico, starting in February. Jeimy Osorio (Una Maid in Manhattan, Porque el amor manda) and Modesto Lacén (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) portray Celia Cruz and her husband and manager, Pedro Knight, during their younger years. The series continues with the introduction of 2014 Latin Grammy nominee Aymeé Nuviola and newcomer Willy Denton, who play the couple in their later years.

Can a show about one of Miami's most beloved Latin superstars attract an audience west of the Mississippi? Silberwasser believes so.

"Our audience will be the ultimate judge, but we think it is going to appeal to a broad audience," he said. "Celia is really an icon across Latin America, and the show resonated with Hispanics across all of our test markets. I think Celia really represents Hispanic America."

At 9 p.m., Silberwasser has put his faith in Bajo el mismo cielo, a telenovela that — for the first time, he said — depicts the U.S. Hispanic migrant experience. "The story line is much more real than the typical fantasy-world production," he said.

A loose adaptation of the 2011 film A Better Life, the story centers around undocumented Los Angeles resident Carlos Martinez, portrayed by Gabriel Porras (El Alma Herida, La Reina del Sur).

The premiere of Bajo el mismo cielo generated Telemundo’s highest ratings for a telenovela premiere in three years.

"As we continue to look at our strategy, we ask ourselves if we can continue to innovate, and what else we can find that is very different from the competition," Silberwasser says.

The result: Adding the first-ever U.S. Hispanic adaptation of Endemol's Big Brother, Gran Hermano, to the lineup and bringing its own variety show, ¡Que Noche!, to Saturday nights.

"This is our next big bet for Saturday night," Silberwasser said. Asked about the timing of the show's debut, after the Sept. 19 finale of the Don Francisco-helmed Sábado Gigante on rival Univision, he said: "We wanted to capture the Sábado Gigante concept but with a much-younger audience, and talent that resonates with this audience.” Telenovela actress Angélica Vale and Raúl González — a host of Univision morning program Despierta América from 2001-2014  are the combo that Silberwasser believes "will bring Saturday night back to life" for Latino TV viewers.

AWARENESS AND AWARDS

In addition to its programming plans, Telemundo is hedging its bets on Pope Francis’s visit this month to the U.S. and Latin America, devoting significant news and programming resources to the trip.

Over Sunday nights during the next three months, Telemundo will air faith-themed programming tied to the pope’s trip, including the miniseries A.D. and a four-part, four-hour miniseries on Pope Francis’s life. 

Meanwhile, the network has integrated the struggle of Type 2 Diabetes — a common ailment for U.S. Hispanics — into the storyline of Bajo el mismo cielo through a newly forged partnership with pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim.

Storyline integrations follow character Andrés Cabrera as he manages the disease. The integrations are supported by a custom vignette airing in conjunction with the storyline and featuring actor Juan Cepero, in character as Cabrera, encouraging viewers to visit www.cuidatudon.com for more information about Type 2 Diabetes.

Telemundo is also featuring Boehringer Ingelheim-sponsored custom Q&A-style segments on its weekday morning show, Un Nuevo Día.

Lastly, Telemundo believes it can stage its own Latin music awards program by launching its Latin American Music Awards. Televised live from Hollywood on Oct. 8, the LAMAs are a Hispanic take on the American Music Awards, created by Dick Clark in 1974. Dick Clark Productions has yet to announce the show's host or musical performers.

YOUTH MOVEMENT ‘EN ESPAÑOL’

As Telemundo makes an aggressive, schedule-wide push for 18-to-34 Hispanic viewers, Silberwasser said he isn’t worried about the industry pundits who posit that younger Latinos don't consume Spanish-language television and live in a largely English-speaking world.

“We believe that we can bring 18-34s who want to see great programming on our network,” Silberwasser said. “Great programming can be in Spanish. Remember, this audience is bilingual. They are watching a series in Spanish, and commenting on Twitter in English.

“If we can properly speak to this audience with great programming, there will be no further gap to bridge,” he added.

Pasiones, a pay-TV network dedicated to telenovelas, has gotten a facelift.

The network, available across Latin America and in the U.S., is now sporting a new logo, on-air look and  graphics package.

The new look took effect on the channel’s Latin American feed on Aug. 3 and on the U.S. signal on Aug. 17. The changes are tied to an increased effort to lure Hispanic women to the channel, the network said.

“We have dramatically increased our investment in content and have now updated our look to reflect our identity,” Francisco Gimenez, general manager of cable networks for Pasiones parent Hemisphere Media Group, said in a statement. “This rebrand reflects our premium status and top-rate programming, and reinforces our commitment to make Pasiones the leading destination for women."

Carolina Bilbao, Hemisphere’s creative director, led the channel repositioning and rebranding. Bilbao and the programming team also worked with Eloisa Iturbe, a Buenos Aires, Argentina-based branding agency, on the reimaging.

“Our channel name clearly states what we are about, but we needed our logo and on-air look to convey the emotions that our novelas and dramas incite,” Bilbao said. “Our new look establishes a very personal relationship with the viewer. Our logo is handwritten and the heart is at the center of it, as it is with everything on our channel. The on-air environment is warm and inviting, and its unique handwritten elements will connect to the programming in a very personal way.”

Pasiones has agreements in place with major producers and distributors from around the world, including Televisa, Telemundo, TV Globo, Caracol, Sony, Cisneros Media Distribution, Artear, and Telefe.

In March of 2010, none other than The Wall Street Journal took notice of a new trend in the ratings and revenue magnet of Hispanic television, the telenovela.

Rather than focusing on the racy (and toned-down) title of the Telemundo drama Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso (“There’s No Paradise Without Nipples”), the Journal instead turned its magnifying glass on the character of Catalina — a “beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl who wanted nothing more than an ample bosom so she could attract a boyfriend in a powerful drug cartel.” For added drama, Catalina’s life is thrust into turmoil when a hit man hired by her narco-novio winds up shooting her.

Nearly five years have passed since Senos ushered in what the Journal dubbed the “narco-novela” — a trend that includes MundoFox’s airing of Colombian series El Capo; the 2012 Telemundo smash Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal; Telemundo’s early 2014 entry Camelia la Texana; and even a Colombian scene-by-scene retelling of AMC’s acclaimed meth-fueled series Breaking Bad — UniMás’s Metásasis.

The latter program debuted June 8 at 10 p.m. on UniMás. As Hispanic Television Update reported in June, lead character “Walter White” is now “Walter Blanco,” a Colombian high-school chemistry teacher who, like a certain Albuquerque, N.M.-based high-school chemistry teacher, turns to methamphetamine production with a former student to provide for his pregnant wife and disabled son after he loses a battle with terminal cancer.

Unlike Breaking Bad, the tale of Señor Blanco was condensed into a typical telenovela arc of four months; the Metástasis series finale was Sept. 18.

Now airing in that timeslot as of Nov. 10: En la Boca del Lobo, which tells the story of the man responsible for the downfall of the infamous Cali drug cartel.

The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, portrayed by Luis Fernando Hoyos (Love in The Time of Cholera), an engineer and soldier who rises to become head of security for the godfather of the Cali cartel, which is at war with the Medellin cartel. After losing his best friend and family, Ricardo has nothing else to lose and is willing to turn in the Cali cartel to the CIA. The operation goes south, forcing Ricardo to fight for his own life.

As of the week ending Nov. 9, En la Boca del Lobo had not placed among the top 25 most-watched Spanish-language prime-time programs; the aforementioned Pablo Escobar-themed telenovela ranks No. 22.

In fact, the top-rated telenovela is a prime example of the tried-and-true Cinderella story. Mi Corazon es Tuyo, airing at 8 p.m. weeknights on Univision, tells the story of a wealthy widower who unknowingly hires a struggling exotic dancer as the nanny of his seven unruly children. According to Nielsen, the show averaged roughly 7.3 million viewers during the week ending Nov. 9.

The No. 2 ranked show, Univision’s Hasta el fin Del Mundo, focuses on the oldest of three sisters who takes over the operations of the family chocolate factory following their father’s death. For added value, the female protagonist is engaged to a man looking to cash in on her wealth but falls for her chauffeur, a former race-car driver. Hasta averaged slightly more than 3.1 million viewers for the week ending Nov. 9, according to Nielsen.

No. 23-ranked Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal attracted an average of 421,000 viewers for UniMás.

Spain’s chief national broadcaster has upped its ante on reaching Spanish-speaking TV audiences across North America.

Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A., commonly known as RTVE, in mid-September finalized a deal with Castalia Communications that gives the Atlanta-based company exclusive representation rights in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

Specifically, Castalia will provide operators with access to TVE Internaciónal, which offers a mix of original programming airing across Spain on TVE 1 and TVE 2, and 24h, a Madrid-based Spanish-language news and information channel.

“We are very pleased to be selected by TVE to represent the premier channels from Spain in the U.S. and Canada,” Castalia president Luis Torres-Bohl said. “In addition to expanding the presence of TVE Internacional and 24h, we will focus on helping distributors and consumers learn more about TVE’s high-quality, culturally relevant programming.”

TVE marketing director Marta Abad added: “With a solid reputation for launching channels and programming worldwide, and a stronghold in North America, Castalia Communications is ideally positioned to strengthen the reach of our brands. We look forward to serving new audiences in the U.S. and Canada as the premier destination for Spanish news and entertainment.”