Telemundo Cancels Morning Show; Realigns Sports, News
Laura Martínez -- Multichannel News, 6/2/2008 6:44:00 AM MT
NBC-owned Telemundo has pulled the plug on Cada Día, a weekday morning, citing poor ratings.
“This was a very tough decision. Cada Día is a show we believed in and were very enthusiastic about, but it did not deliver the necessary performance to sustain the show,” the network said in a statement.
Cada Día launched in 2005 to great fanfare, after the network managed to lure news veteran María Antonieta Collins from rival Univision to helm the show, which was modeled after NBC’s Today, with a mix of news, gossip, fashion and live cooking segments. But Cada Día did not succeed in taking away viewers from the long-running Despierta América on Univision.
Cada Día will be replaced by a “soon-to-be-announced new concept for the morning part,” though the network declined to give specifics. In the meantime, it will offer a combination of Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste, local news, Telemundo’s talk show Rocio and a telenovela block.
Collins, along with other talent from Cada Día, including José Diaz Balart, Mónica Noguera and Poncho de Anda, will remain under contract, the network said.
Separately, Telemundo announced a reorganization of its news and sports division, with Jorge Hidalgo, formerly head of news and sports, now focusing entirely on sports, as the network prepares to broadcast the Olympics coverage from Beijing. Johanna Guerra, vice president of news, will continue to be responsible for all news content and will now report directly to Telemundo president Don Browne.
