Time Warner Goes Spanish in NYC
By Simon Applebaum -- Multichannel News, 1/28/2003 7:19:00 AM
After launching digital Spanish-language programming tiers in several markets elsewhere during the past two years, Time Warner Cable has put one in place at its largest system -- New York.
Time Warner Cable's package, known as "DTV en Español," consists of 48 Spanish-language channels, plus the Music Choice digital-audio service, which includes five Latino music formats.
New Time Warner Cable subscribers can buy the tier for $49.95 per month, while the system's current digital customer base can pay $9.95 extra per month for it.
The situation also represents a breakthrough for independent digital-service distributor OlympuSAT Inc. Most of the services on OlympuSAT's Hispanic tier -- including Cine Latino, LTV and Canal Sur -- will be programmed on the New York system, making them available to one of the nation's largest Latino population centers.
Other Spanish-language channels on the tier include CNN en Español, mun2 Television, Fox Sports World Español and several religious services (La Familia/ETWN en Español).
Subscribers to the tier also can get Home Box Office, Showtime and other premium services over separate Spanish- and English-language channels, as well as a package of English-language digital-basic networks.
Movies will be featured on a video-on-demand service, with titles ranging from $1.95 to $3.95 apiece.
"We customized a digital package encompassing a broad spectrum of in-language programming, together with many English channels with a global appeal," Time Warner Cable New York City president Barry Rosenblum said in a prepared statement.
Rosenblum's system has about 1.1 million customers in New York, with his unit responsible for another 300,000 customers in New Jersey's Bergen and Hudson counties and Mount Vernon, N.Y.
All but the Bergen County residents will have the tier available in their area this week. Bergen subscribers will be able to order it by the end of February.
Time Warner Cable estimated that about one-third of the homes in its combination New York/New Jersey service area are of Hispanic descent.
Other Time Warner Cable systems with digital Latino-programming tiers include Orlando, Fla., and Austin, Texas.
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