A new 24-hour news and entertainment channel has a name, Fusion. It also has powerful backers in Univision and ABC News, a unit of the Walt Disney Company, and distribution deals in at least 20 million homes. What is not known is whether Fusion has an audience.
Fusion will have its premiere late this summer, the companies announced Monday, as the first cable channel aimed to appeal specifically to English-speaking Latinos who can find news and entertainment elsewhere. Its reception will test whether second-generation Latinos want to watch television programming specifically for them.
The 50-50 jointly owned channel underscores the growing influence of a booming population over media companies, marketers and politicians. In 2010, there were 50.5 million Hispanics living in the United States, up from 35.3 million a decade ago, according to the 2010 census. That number is expected to grow by 167 percent by 2050, compared with an estimated 42 percent growth rate for the nation’s total population. Latinos voted in record number in the 2012 presidential election and helped sway the results in Barack Obama’s favor.
“The level of growth of Hispanics in the United States is huge, and that growth is not coming from immigration,” said Isaac Lee, the president of Univision News.
But creating a new 24-hour cable channel for a relatively narrow audience that already has plenty of options in both English and Spanish is a risky proposition. Studies show English-speaking Latinos watch the same types of programs as non-Hispanics.
“This audience identifies as Americans first,” said Larry Lubin, co-founder and president of Lubin Lawrence Inc., a brand consultancy that advised both companies. He also stressed that the venture needed to broaden its appeal. “The brand will be a failure if it only appeals to Latinos.”
Univision has rapidly expanded to meet growing demand, increasing in the last several years to 12 channels from three, including cable channels devoted to sports and telenovela marathons. Fusion represents its first English-language effort.
“This community is exploding from a size and influence perspective, but also from a diversity perspective,” said Cesar Conde, president of Univision Networks. “And we’re going through an explosive period in our evolution.”
Univision and Disney executives first sat down to discuss a joint venture channel aimed at Latinos in March 2011. For Univision, Fusion represents a chance for the largest Spanish-language network to break out of its image as the home of imported Mexican soap operas, soccer and variety shows.
Nearly half of all Latinos in the United States speak more or an equal amount of English at home, a shift Univision has had to adapt to. “They watch English shows,” said Mr. Lubin, adding that they might watch Univision “maybe if they’re at their grandmother’s house.”
For Disney, the cable channel represents a broader corporate effort to appeal to marketers hoping to reach Latino viewers. Nielsen projects the buying power of Hispanics, estimated at $1 trillion in 2010, to grow to $1.5 trillion by 2015. In 2010, advertisers spent $4.3 billion to reach Hispanics, up 14 percent from 2009, according to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies. Unlike NBC with MSNBC, ABC does not have a cable news channel.
Univision spearheaded the channel’s programming and hired employees for its Miami-based headquarters. Disney, which has leverage with cable and satellite providers because of ESPN, handled distributing the channel. So far deals have been struck with Cablevision, Charter, Cox Communications, AT&T U-Verse and Google Fiber. A spokeswoman for ABC News said additional distribution deals were in the works and that the existing ones made Fusion available in states with the largest Hispanic populations, including Texas, California, Florida and Illinois.
Fusion will broadcast unscripted series and specials, all with a Latino slant. Mr. Lee pointed to series like National Geographic’s “Locked Up Abroad” about tourists who end up in foreign prisons, as the type of documentary series he hoped the channel would do. Extensive news coverage in collaboration with ABC News will revolve around the interests of Latinos. Coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, for instance, would focus on potential Latin American candidates to succeed him, Mr. Lee said.
The goal at ABC News is that the partnership infuses its editorial choices with a Hispanic perspective. “This will absolutely play a part in our programming choices,” said Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News.
ABC News has provided employees with free Spanish lessons. Univision’s key news anchors, Jorge Ramos and María Elena Salinas, made appearances during ABC News’s election coverage. Univision has installed a liaison in the ABC newsroom in New York to foster collaboration. Sharing news gathering and production resources with Univision could also help ABC News trim costs.
Univision’s influence on ABC News’s editorial choices has already been felt. After the Mexican singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash in December “we knew to put it on Page 1 because our friends at Univision called me and said, ‘This is going to be the most important event for millions of U.S. Hispanics. Pay attention to this,’ ” Mr. Sherwood said.
Univision’s Spanish-language programming faces competition. In August, News Corporation introduced MundoFOX, a Spanish-language broadcast channel. Under the ownership of Comcast, NBCUniversal has increased investment in Telemundo.
But the biggest competition for Fusion might not come from traditional television. The median age of Hispanics in the United States is 28, and Latinos spent 68 percent more time watching video on the Internet than non-Hispanics, according to figures from Telemundo. Enticing those viewers to watch the old-fashioned way may prove tough.
Last year, the then-unnamed Fusion began news coverage online, in time to cover the presidential election. The channel’s online presence will grow leading up to the TV inauguration. “We will treat digital as the first screen, not the second screen,” Mr. Lee said.
Media Decoder Blog: Univision and Disney Give Details of Fusion, a Channel for Latinos
This article
Media Decoder Blog: Univision and Disney Give Details of Fusion, a Channel for Latinos
can be opened in url
http://guidancenewster.blogspot.com/2013/02/media-decoder-blog-univision-and-disney.html
Media Decoder Blog: Univision and Disney Give Details of Fusion, a Channel for Latinos
