Sí TV-HD to Launch in 2008 with Verizon
Network Claims Service Will Be First 24/7 HD Channel Catering to Latino Audiences
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 6/4/2007 12:05:00 PM
Sí TV plans to launch an HD channel in 2008, and the English-language Latino programmer said Verizon Communications already signed on to carry it.
Sí TV-HD will be the first 24/7 HD channel catering to Latino audiences, according to the company. Sí TV said it has been preparing for an HD channel since it started in 2004 and it has more than 200 hours of original content in HD format, including series The Drop, Unacceptable Behavior, The Rub, Dating Factory and Latino Laugh Festival: The Show.
“Young Latinos are a huge economic and political force in America today, and they deserve -- like every consumer -- the ability to enjoy the benefits of high-definition television made by and for them,” Sí TV CEO Michael Schwimmer said in a prepared statement.
Sí TV is currently producing two new HD series: Past Port, in which young U.S. Latinos return to their parents’ or grandparents’ countries of origin; and Total Combat, a reality series about a young Latino couple running a mixed-martial-arts fighting league. Other new Sí TV series for 2007-08, including Flow & Tell and Home Page, will also be shown in HD on Sí TV-HD.
Sí TV said Verizon carries the standard-definition version of the channel on its most widely distributed tier. The network’s other cable and telco distributors include AT&T, Cox Communications, Comcast, Insight Communications and Time Warner Cable.
According to the Simmons NCS/NHCS Fall 2006 Adult Full Year Study, cited by Sí TV, 35% of English-dominant Latino 18-34 TV viewers have HDTV sets.
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