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Upfronts Show Hispanic Power

NEW YORK — Broadcast upfront week was also Hispanic
upfront week here, with splashy parties, colorful videos
and affirmations from top cable-network CEOs of the hugely
important, fast-growing Spanish-speaking marketplace.

Discovery, Telemundo, Univision Communications and
Fox Hispanic Media all touted Hispanic offerings, along
with NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and mun2, Discovery en
Español and smaller programmers V-me and Estrella TV.

Category leader Univision showcased its growing relationship
with Televisa, including the addition of the
popular Hoy morning show (to air in the U.S. right after
Univision’s morning show Despierta América) and officially
announced it will launch three new networks, dedicated
to news, sports and telenovelas.

Telemundo showed off former Univision personality
Cristina Saralegui, who’ll host a weekend show later this
year — after hosting a May 31 event featuring the cast of
record-setting telenovela La Reina del Sur.

— Laura Martinez

Ebersol Leaves NBC Sports, Lazarus Steps Up

NEW YORK — Dick Ebersol, the longtime leader of NBC
Sports and Olympics advocate, has resigned after failing
to come to terms on a contract extension.

Mark Lazarus, the NBC Sports Cable Group president, will
succeed Ebersol as chairman of the NBC Sports Group.

Ebersol’s impending exit comes a little over three months
after Comcast gained control of the NBCUniversal joint venture
and just weeks ahead of the bidding for the U.S. media
rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games.

Ebersol, who’s been with NBC for some 40 years in news
and entertainment, will remain at NBCU through the end of
June. He will not, however, journey to Lausanne, Switzerland,
next month, when Comcast’s group will join ESPN and
Fox Sports in attempting to secure rights to the upcoming
Olympics.

— Mike Reynolds

Liberty Bids $1 Billion for Barnes & Noble

ENGLEWOOD, COLO. — Media legend John Malone’s Liberty
Capital launched a $1 billion bid for leading book retailer
Barnes & Noble after the close on May 19, an offer that
values the book retailing giant at about 5 times forward
looking cash flow.

Liberty Capital would pay $17 per share for a 70% interest
in the book retailer for about $1 billion, about half
in cash ($500 million) and the rest borrowed. Barnes &
Noble — which has tested deal waters before — said it
has formed a special committee of its board of directors
to evaluate the proposal, and said it had hired advisers.

“Ultimately the move is in keeping with Liberty’s strategy
of deploying its sizeable excess cash into related
industries,” Pivotal Research Group principal and media
and communications analyst Jeff Wlodarczak said.

— Mike Farrell