Telemundo Celebrates 25th Anniversary and New Look
By | December 4, 2012
Comcast-NBCU’s Telemundo celebrated its 25th anniversary at Washington D.C.’s restaurant Oyamel Monday night. The event featured a mix of the Spanish-language network’s talents, executives, and…margaritas, tacos and mini-empanadas. CableFAX spoke with Telemundo president Emilio Romano about the network standing out from other Spanish-language programmers.
The network unveiled a new logo and will launch a new branding campaign soon as well. After 20 years, the network has departed from its use of a traditional blue “T” and replaced it with a red “T.” The new positioning platform reflects the duality of the network’s audience, balancing the connection to viewers’ Latin roots with their contemporary mindset of living in the US, Romano told us.
According to Romano, original programming and rights to assets like FIFA World Cup are helping Telemundo differentiate itself from other Spanish-language networks. “We are now home to the World Cup,” one of the network’s important assets, Romano said. Telemundo won the Spanish-language rights over Univision, which has aired every World Cup tournament since 1978. Telemundo now has rights to FIFA World Cup soccer from 2015 through 2022.
Meanwhile, most of Telemundo’s primetime content is produced in the U.S. “We don’t bring our content from abroad…Our content’s created by the Hispanic communities and for the Hispanic communities in the U.S.” Romano said. He noted that the network has one of the largest group of talent and production teams. “Not only do they produce content for the Hispanic communities here…our content’s being offered to an international audience as well.”
Romano’s goal is clear: “In the next three years, we want to make sure we are the best voice for Hispanic communities.” The network will become “closer to its audience” with its ability to “entertain, inspire and empower.” To do that, embracing local initiatives is key, he told the crowd. “We have to make sure we resonate with them and communicate with them.” Romano credited the network’s growth to support from parent company Comcast, which “understands what it takes to be a successful media company.”
And the support from Comcast will continue, evp David Cohen said at the event. “This is an asset that’s incredibly important to Comcast. We have invested in it and we are going to continue to invest in it,” he said. “We believe in Spanish-language programming.” He also noted Telemundo has much more Spanish-language content that’s produced in the U.S. than any other networks. Comcast is looking forward to the launch of English-language channels owned by Latinos, the exec said. One will be owned by film director Robert Rodriguez and the other by Spanish-language TV vet Constantino “Said” Schwarz.
Muchas felicidades por tu cumpleaños de 25!
