Faced with low ratings and a weak advertising market, Azteca America this week moved its national and local news operations to Mexico City to merge with those of parent TV Azteca. The move, announced late last month, resulted in the layoff of about 30 people, most of them from the news division.
The company called the move the creation of an “unprecedented Hispanic journalistic network,” with 32 news bureaus, 108 reporters across Latin America and the world, which is none other than the current news organization owned by TV Azteca and known as Fuerza Informativa Azteca.
Azteca América president Adrian Steckel said the current news team led by José Martín Sámano, will be based in Azteca America’s Mexico City studios.
Among other moves, news director María Elena Jáuregui resigned from her post and will now serve as a consultant to the network. Azteca said it will continue to have reporters, producers and assignment editors in Los Angeles.
News will continue to broadcast daily at 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m., as will the local news broadcasts in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas at their regularly scheduled times.
Azteca America, which this year decided not to hold an upfront presentation as in previous years, has struggled with growing competition in the Los Angeles market, where Univision’s KMEX-TV and Telemundo’s KVEA-TV are well entrenched among Hispanic viewers.
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