Four years after its launch as an English-language channel
for young, acculturated U.S. Hispanics, Si TV will undergo a radical revamping.
The recast channel will not only change its programming
lineup on July 4, but introduce a brand new name -- nuvoTV -- and a new logo.
By choosing Independence Day for the official launch of
nuvoTV, the network wants to send a message: "Sometimes people we deal with
don't recognize the importance of bicultural Latinos," Si TV CEO Michael
Schwimmer told Hispanic TV Update.
"Nothing could say in a bigger way that this is truly an American audience than
to launch our new brand on July 4 ... the most American holiday of them all."
According to Schwimmer and other Si TV executives, the name
Si TV often led to some confusion among potential viewers about the language of
their content, which is English. So after evaluating hundreds of names and
working with Los Angeles branding shop Industrial Creative , network officials
came up with nuvoTV, a word that combines the first two letters of Nuevo (new)
and Voice.
And as it did as Si TV, nuvoTV plans to capitalize on the
2010 U.S> Census results, which have already begun to be released, showing
among other things that bicultural Latinos constitute about 38 million (or 77%)
of the roughly 50 million total U.S. Hispanic population. What's more: It is
estimated that before the next Census in 2020, one in five Americans is
expected to be a Latino.
Both Schwimmer and Si TV senior vice president of Marketing
Rafael Oller insist that the new identity goes beyond a mere change of name:
"This is not a cosmetic change, but a DNA shift," Oller, a former Warner
Channel executive, said ."Our programming is in line with the name and the
network's emotional drivers."
NuvoTV will also become a Nielsen-rated network this year. a
decision apppladed by marketers during last week's Client Solutions Meetings
meetings in Miami, where Si TV's top executives met with advertisers and
distributors to discuss and preview the rebranding.
Si TV will not hold a big upfront presentation to
advertisers in New York this year. Rather, it will present its fall lineup at a
press event during upfront week.
"We think inviting 1,600 of our friends [to New York] is not
a good strategy, it's more like a party," senior vice president of ad sales
Craig Geller said.
