We don’t often cover the newsy side of the world, even when it involves Latinos (in fact, there are so many Latinos in front and behind the camera on TV news that you could do a whole site about that community alone)…but a recent announcement from ABC and Univision is worth noting: looks like they’re going to launch a English-Language cable news channel tailored to Latinos, and they plan to get it up and running before the 2012 Presidential elections.
It doesn’t look like there will be a hiring boom to make it happen; an article in The Wrap and elsewhere indicate the as-yet-unnamed venture, to be based in Miami, will be using exciting reports and producers from ABC and Univision. And the whole project presents a special challenge to Univision, which–unlike Telemundo and its spin-off, mun2–has kept its programming almost entirely in Spanish over the years.
But the pressure to change is huge. This is just the latest venture to tap into the growing “Hispanic” market, as variegated as it is. The market has grown by more than forty percent in the last decade and totals more than 50 million people today.
Univision’s never been in a better place to take this own; its audience is growing by leaps and bounds, with viewership of its most popular shows that regularly outstrips English-language networks like CBS and NBC. If its growth rate continues, it may actually be the largest broadcast network on the continent by 2016.
Negotiations are still underway, but if it happens it’s likely to happen soon. More to come…
