TED, the global nonprofit behind the motivational and educational “TED Talks,” has partnered with Spanish-language digital multicast network Vme TV for a 13-episode series “dedicated to ideas that can influence how Hispanics can shape the future.”
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.
