Dish Adds 'Mexico' Package

Dish Network last week debuted Dish-Mexico, a programming package targeted at Mexican viewers, launching Bandamax and a new BBC-created channel for preschoolers as exclusives in the mix.

DishMexico has more than 50 channels and features networks such as Univision, Azteca America, Galavision, Teleformula, Telefutura, Telehit, De Película, and De Película Clásico, plus six Latino music channels, including Viva Mariachi, Fiesta Mexicana and La Frontera, and local channels. It's priced at $9.99 a month for the first six months, rising to $19.99 after that.

The new package includes the U.S. launch of two channels exclusively on Dish Network: CBeebies, a Spanish-language channel from BBC Worldwide Channels that delivers educational and entertainment content for preschoolers, and music channel Bandamax, dedicated to the most popular Mexican and other Latino categories.

CBeebies (on channel 848) is the first Spanish-language channel launched by BBC Worldwide Channels in the United States. Dish, with about 13.8 million subscribers, will carry the live feed of the Latin American version of CBeebies, which launched in Mexico this past August.

Bandamax, a regional Mexican music network, is a venture of TuTV and Univision Communications. With the new deal between TuTv and Dish Network, TuTv has a total of four networks on DishMexico and DishLatino properties: Bandamax, Telehit, De Película and De Película Clásico.

Dish Network plans to launch additional exclusive content in the next few weeks.

To promote the new package, Dish Network is rolling new TV spots and print advertisements featuring popular Mexican TV star Andrea Legarreta, who has appeared in many telenovelas and movies and currently hosts talk show Hoy on Televisa.