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| Emiliano Saccone is the president of MundoFox |
LOS ANGELES — The correspondents were on camera and on location in
Mexico City, Washington and Los Angeles. Rolando Nichols, the lead
anchor, listened intently to the receiver in his ear as he stood in
front of the bright red walls of the news studio.
But the news would have to wait: engineers and producers in the control room were having trouble with the sound system.
On Monday, the network — a partnership between
Fox International Channels, owned by the News Corporation, and
RCN Television
in Colombia — will make its official debut in 50 cities in the United
States, including Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
MundoFox will be entering a market long dominated by
Univision and the smaller
Telemundo
as it tries to gain the attention of the millions of Latinos in the
United States who watch Spanish-language programming. The effort is
estimated to cost $50 million.
By the end of the year, network executives say they expect to be in 60
cities, reaching nearly 80 percent of Latino audiences in the United
States. It is the first time RCN will be part owner of a broadcast
network in the United States.
“We aren’t anyone yet, even though we have an exceptional product,”
Jorge Mettey,
the network’s senior vice president for news, said in Spanish. “Trust
and credibility are gained little by little. They are gained through
actions.”
A few miles away, in the pristine white offices at Fox Studios on West
Pico Boulevard, Emiliano Saccone, president of MundoFox, explained the
network’s philosophy. “Right now we are as American as anyone else, and
we have the political and financial power to essentially step up,” he
said of Latinos in the United States. “It’s no longer about defending
ourselves from perceptions or beliefs as much as it is about looking
forward.”
To that end, the network’s tagline will be “Americano Como Tú,” or “American Like You.”
“I know it’s a long runway,” Mr. Saccone said of the network’s ability
to compete. It will not be rated by Nielsen until Oct. 1.
To set MundoFox apart from its competitors, executives say they will
create American-style programming in Spanish, infusing more action,
quick wit and on-location shoots into scripted shows. Univision and
Telemundo emphasize their lineups of telenovelas, sports and reality
programming.
On MundoFox, the traditional telenovela format will be left for daytime
programming, Mr. Saccone said. “Nobody wants to get rid of telenovelas,”
he said. “But that’s not our bread and butter.”
Hernan Lopez, president and chief executive of Fox International
Channels, said the network was trying to recreate the success of the
English-language Fox Broadcasting network when it made its debut and had
to contend with the three major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC.
“Just like it happened for Fox 25 years ago, we believe there was a
large part of the audience that was underserved and wanted to see new
and innovative ideas on television,” Mr. Lopez said. “The exact same
thing is happening in Spanish-language television today.”
The bulk of the network’s shows will be produced at RCN’s studios in
Colombia. Other content will come from the 24-hour news channel
NTN24, owned by RCN;
Fox Deportes, Fox’s Spanish-language sports network; and other News Corporation properties like
Shine America.
There will be at least two evening news broadcasts, one local and one
national in major cities. Mr. Mettey said that unlike some of the
programs on the English-language version of Fox, MundoFox’s news program
would not have a conservative political bent.
“Our editorial line is decided by us and reflects the interests of the
Latino community in the United States,” Mr. Mettey said, adding that the
coverage would be “balanced and professional.”
Mr. Mettey has previously faced ethical questions. In 2007, he was fired
from his job as news director at Univision, accused of biased coverage,
according to
an article
in The Los Angeles Times. Mr. Mettey then sued the company for wrongful
termination, claiming that Univision had allowed advertisers to
influence its news coverage. The
lawsuit was settled, but terms were not disclosed.
With just three months before the presidential election, Mr. Mettey said
the network had “a moral obligation and a social obligation to
encourage civic participation” among its viewers by urging them to vote.
But
Federico Subervi,
director of the Center for the Study of Latino Media and Markets at the
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State
University-San Marcos, questioned whether the channel would have “a
political and partisan agenda” and whether it was part of a strategy to
compensate for the negative portrayals of Latinos on some of Fox’s
English-language shows. “The content of English-language Fox versus
Spanish-language Fox is very different,” Dr. Subervi said.
Beyond news, the channel will feature “Minuto Para Ganar,” a
Spanish-language version of the NBC game show “Minute to Win It.” It
will be the first Spanish-language program that Shine America will
produce in the United States, and it will run five days a week as
opposed to just one day a week on NBC. The host will be Marco Antonio
Regil, a popular game show host in Latin America who has led Spanish
versions of “The Price Is Right” and “Family Feud.”
The network’s biggest offerings include scripted programs that have been
popular in Latin America, like the action drama “El Capo,” featuring Marlon Moreno as Pedro Jaramillo, a drug trafficker, and “Kdabra,” starring Christopher Von Uckermann.
While it may take years for MundoFox to turn a profit, Todd Juenger, an
analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein who follows the News Corporation, said
the company was under pressure to grow while at the same time “sitting
on a gigantic pile of cash” that it must invest.
“Hispanic media is red hot,” Mr. Juenger said. He estimated that Fox
International Channels accounted for 5 percent of total News Corporation
revenue.
MundoFox will also have to get the attention of advertisers. So far, Mr.
Lopez said, it has signed contracts with L’Oréal, T-Mobile and Toyota.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 15, 2012
An
article on Monday about the Spanish-language network MundoFox described
incorrectly the equipment that the lead anchor, Rolando Nichols, was
wearing in his ear during a recent test run. It was a receiver, not a
microphone.
