Hispanic Heritage Month kicks off Sept. 15 and with it there will be the usual flood of Latino-targeted programming on a number of networks including PBS and The History Channel en español.
Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco and Mexican-American comedian George Lopez will be profiled as part of the American Masters series. New episodes for the fourth season of kids show Maya & Miguel will start Oct. 1. And a new installment in the P.O.V. series "Made in L.A." will tell the story of three Latina garment workers. Also premiering is Ken Burns' seven-part series on World War II, which, in response to protests from a variety of groups, now includes segments on Latinos and American Indians.
Well-known Mexican actress Kate del Castillo will host six films on The History Channel en español during the month. One of the films is documentary Señorita Extraviada (Missing Young Woman) about the hundreds of missing and murdered women in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Also featured are documentaries about Pablo Escobar and Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Q &A
As Univision’s new president of advertising sales (see story above), David Lawenda will oversee all ad sales efforts for Univision -- from television and radio to online and elsewhere. This will not be the first time that Lawenda works for Univision CEO Joseph Uva. While at Turner Broadcasting System, Uva gave Lawenda his first job in sales 20 years ago. Lawenda’s most recent post was senior VP at MTV Networks where he was responsible for advertising sales on VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, Logo and The N. Hispanic Television Update spoke to Lawenda about why he took the Univision job and why he is excited about it. The interview was part of a round-robin of calls with various media outlets, which is a step that would have been unthinkable under the previous CEO and controlling shareholder A. Jerrold Perenchio. An edited transcript follows:
Q: In the press release, you are quoted as saying “I believe there's a significant opportunity to provide marketers with the ability to access this desirable audience across all of Univision's assets in one holistic dialogue." What exactly is a "holistic dialogue"?
A: I think it just means one conversation where we listen to marketers’ objectives and we are available in one conversation to harness the power of all our individual assets to put an appropriate marketing platform together. One ‘holistic dialogue.’
Q: What is your first priority?
A: My first priority is to really demonstrate to the English-language advertisers that are not currently advertising on Spanish-language media what they are missing by not having a relationship and dialogue with us. They are missing an incredibly valuable audience.
Q: Why did you take the post?
A: Well, while I've been at MTV Networks I've been watching the explosive Hispanic population growth, consumer growth. Certainly, it’s a very exciting time to be in this space. Then you look at Univision and they are the No. 1 Hispanic-language media company in the U.S. They have got incredibly strong ad supported platforms. They have a dominant position in every one of those platforms. And, again, this incredibly passionate connection that we've got to our audience. All of that speaks to incredible upside.
Q: In terms of those different platforms, what experience do you have, if any, in radio or online?
A: In terms of those different platforms, what experience do you have, if any, in radio or online?
Q: I understand both you and Joe Uva worked at Turner. Did you work together?
A: Joe gave me my first sales job 20 years ago in the industry. And I worked for Joe for six years at Turner [doing] ad sales for CNN and Headline News.
Q: How familiar are you with Univision's programming?
A: I'm learning it. I've been here two hours, literally.
Q: Have you seen a telenovela? Have you seen El Chavo del 8, Sabado Gigante? What have you seen at this point?
A: I've been watching tapes and familiarizing myself with all the networks.
Q: You are charged with Galavisión, as well. How will that challenge be different? What are the differences between selling Spanish-language broadcast and Spanish-language cable?
A: Ultimately, we are connecting marketers with their consumers. I see it as the same.
Q: Anything I didn't ask that you wanted to mention?
Actually, there is one thing I'd like to add. And again, I am here for literally a couple of hours but based on what I've heard on the street and everything Joe has told me I am coming into an organization where the foundation is exceptionally strong and I am just very, very excited to build on that and be a part of a very exciting future that Univision has in front of it.
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Two Years After the Storm, Cox, Dish Network and DirecTV Compete for Subscribers
(Excerpted from the Aug. 27 issue of Multichannel News)
There’s another factor at play. New Orleans has seen an influx of Hispanics into the city, as part of the workforce for the city’s reconstruction. And DirecTV and Dish have robust Spanish-language packages.
“Satellite is seen by many of our Hispanic newcomers as the way to go for Spanish-speaking families,” [Cox New Orleans vice president and region manager Greg] Bicket said.
But Cox is “staying in tune with that growing marketplace,” and courting it, with some of the additions it has made to its Spanish-language tier, “Paquete Latino,” Bicket said.
Nielsen Folds Hispanic Ratings Into National Sample
(Excerpted from the Aug. 27 issue of Broadcasting & Cable)
Nielsen said Monday it was dropping its separate National Hispanic People Meter sample and will now generate Hispanic ratings via its National People Meter sample, the same one it uses for English language networks.
That will give advertisers an apples-to-manzanas comparison of English and Spanish-language nets side by side.
Spanish-language networks began moving to the NPM sample in 2005, said Nielsen, which attributed its decision in part to the growth of ad spending and audience for Spanish-language media and to its improvement in recruiting and retaining Hispanic households in the national sample.
For more ...
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The Associated Press reported the death last week of David Garcia, "a pioneering Hispanic television journalist who became known as 'Earthman' for his environmental reporting." Before working as a fulltime environmental reporter at KTTV in Los Angeles, Garcia was one of the first Hispanic network television correspondents. Garcia covered the White House for ABC during the Nixon, Ford and Carter Administrations. He was later the network's Latin America bureau chief before working for a number of local television stations in Los Angeles.
For more ...
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