MundoFox

MundoFox is now MundoMax. In the wake of Fox International Channels’ mid-July decision to sell its stake in the joint venture to its Colombian partner RCN TV Group, MundoFox has taken on a new name. It has also shuttered its news division, laying off almost 40 staffers in the process.

The company’s Fox International Channels said Thursday it had sold its interest in U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network MundoFox to its joint-venture partner RCN Television Group, ending an ambitious bid by the media company to gain broader entry to the Spanish-language television market, which has long been dominated by Univision and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo.

Set in ancient Egypt and loosely based on the story of Moses, The Ten Commandments is billed as Brazil’s first biblical soap opera. The soap is taking the country by storm. It’s helped propel the Rede Record television network, owned by the founder of Brazil’s main Pentecostal church, into a showdown with top broadcaster Globo, which for decades has had a lock on primetime soaps, known as novelas. Rede Record is now negotiating with Fox’s Spanish-language channel, MundoFox, to sell the U.S. rights

Fox and RCN tap the veteran media executive to head their U.S. Hispanic broadcast network. He joins the network from the Katz Television Group, where he was senior vice president of national marketing.

Longtime Fox executive Emiliano Saccone says he’s leaving the network on Jan. 15 “to look at some more entrepreneurial ventures.”

From new national ventures like ABC-Univision’s Fusion (which broadcasts in English) to new local Spanish-language newscasts around the country, broadcasters are expanding news offerings targeting Latino viewers to keep up with that audience’s growth in numbers and strength. The growth also signifies broadcasters’ foray into secondary markets that have burgeoning Latino populations.

Barbara De Santis promoted to SVP broadcast standards, Fox Broadcasting and MundoFox, while Trae Williams named SVP broadcast standards and practices, Fox Broadcasting

MundoFox has lined up a Spanish-language version of Fox’s The X Factor titled El Factor X that focuses on undiscovered tyke talent. From FremantleMedia Latin America, El Factor X is hoping to discover the next Latino superstar or music group, and will accept auditions from talent eight to 15 years old. Judges have yet to be announced, and auditions in Los Angeles, New York and Miami begin in June.

The former Telemundo publicity and talent executive joins the new U.S. Hispanic broadcast network.

The new U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network improved its penetration in the country’s No. 3 Hispanic market by moving from low-power WJAN-CD to full-power WGEN.

Fox’s new U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network significantly upgrades its penetration in the country’s No. 3 Hispanic market.

The media executive will head marketing for the new U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network.

Rick Sanchez, the former CNN news anchor, will join the national news team of MundoFox, the newest Spanish-language network in the United States. Sanchez, who is bilingual, will contribute daily segments to the network in Spanish and will also host several news specials a year. He will be based in Miami.

The new over-the-air Hispanic network will air on a subchannel of KUNS Seattle and on KUNP-LP Portland.

Spanish-language MundoFox, which premieres today, hopes to find a niche by emulating U.S. programming in every way except the language in which it is delivered.

The commitment to air local news by affiliates of Fox’s new Hispanic-targeted broadcast network is creating 48 new TV news departments at stations across the United States. “They all committed to having local news; it’s just a matter of time,” says MundoFox SVP of News Jorge Mettey. “If they want to be successful, they have to have local news.”

Phillip Woodie will run the new rep firm that will sell national ads for affiliates of MundoFox.

With its soft launch set for next Wednesday (Aug. 1), the new Spanish-language broadcast network is targetting younger viewers — 18-34s — more than the existing Hispanic networks, and it isn’t afraid to let some English on the air, including commercials. Partners News Corp. and Colombia’s RCN say they’ll have 50 affiliates covering 80% of the U.S. Hispanic population on board by the official launch on Aug. 13.

Veteran Spanish-language media executive Adriana Ibañez is named EVP of the new U.S. Hispanic broadcast network.

When the new U.S. Spanish-language network set to arrive in August debuts, the first ad won’t be a typical 30-second commercial for a packaged-goods product or a car brand, but rather a trailer for a new movie about two mothers trying to turn around an inner-city school.

The Dallas independent will switch from its classic TV format when the new Hispanic network launches on Aug. 13.

The new U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network launches this summer with a mix of original news and entertainment content, as well as exclusive sports events.

The former entertainment president of Fox International Channels, Emiliano Saccone, is named president of the new U.S. Hispanic broadcast TV network set to launch this fall.

Key affiliate pickups for Fox’s new Hispanic broadcast network are KWHY in Los Angeles, the largest Hispanic market with 13.4% of Hispanic homes, and WJAN in Miami, the No. 3 Hispanic market with 5.2% of Hispanic homes. Of this first batch of 20 markets covering 40% of U.S. Hispanic homes, New York is conspiculously missing. It’s the No. 2 Hispanic market and MundoFox says it’s talking to several stations there.

That’s the value and power of over-the-air television broadcasting. The Fox plan to invest millions of dollars into the launch of MundoFox, a new broadcasting network for Hispanics, makes hash out of the FCC chairman’s contention that broadcasting is an obsolete medium and that its continued use of spectrum is of a waste or at least the underutilization of a precious natural resource.

In what it hopes will be a reprise of its success in taking on ABC, CBS and NBC, Fox is setting its sights on the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the U.S. with MundoFox. Media agencies, Spanish-language broadcasters, analysts, program producers and even rival networks believe that News Corp. can pull it off if it is smart about the proposed broadcast network’s programming and can assemble a solid lineup of affiliates. Fox is offering broadcasters one half of the advertising inventory, or six minutes per hour. It’s neither offering nor asking for cash.

MundoFox, a joint venture between Fox International Channels and the RCN Television Group will offer a lineup of original Spanish-language entertainment and sports programming.