Latino-Led Management Group Acquires Majority Interest In Fuse

Miguel Roggero

A Latino-led management group headed by Fuse Media CEO Miguel “Mike” Roggero has acquired a majority, controlling interest in Fuse Media, the cross-platform, English-language, entertainment brand serving Latino, multicultural millennial and GenZ audiences. The company’s platforms currently include Fuse and FM (Fuse Music) linear and video-on-demand (VOD) channels; Fuse Digital; OTT channels and Fuse-branded apps; and live events.

Roggero will lead the senior management group, joined by his fellow management team members Judi Lopez, head of content distribution; Fernando Romero, head of ad sales; and senior members Marc Leonard, Mark McIntire and Patrick Courtney who oversee programming, marketing and digital, respectively.

In addition, Roggero has reconfigured and assembled a board of directors that includes such Latino business leaders including Tony Nieves, president of MARCA, a leading creative and marketing agency targeting the Latino community; and marketing and digital media expert Emeli Colletta, the former head of marketing for Univision Interactive.

Going forward, the company says, “Fuse Media’s ownership, management, board and audience will now be in complete alignment. As a result of the pathway provided by these moves, the management team has the vision and unique ability to unlock the upside potential of the company across distribution, advertising, and programming as it continues to expand and serve this underserved, yet rapidly-growing audience.”

Fernando Romero

Throughout its 16-year history, Fuse Media’s mission has been to provide story-driven programming and content that entertains and inspires young, underserved Latino and multicultural audiences — which, it says, represent the fastest growing segment of America’s population — and to collaborate with creative, brand and distribution partners who share this goal. By targeting a diverse, millennial and Gen Z audience, Peabody- and Emmy-winning Fuse is one of the most multicultural channels on cable, as well as one of the youngest, with a median age more than 15 years below cable’s average, it says.

Roggero added: “At a time when millions of Americans of all races and ethnicities are calling for more representation and servicing of underserved communities, the Fuse Media management team is taking ownership of its collective destiny. Literally. Only through ownership can Latino and other minorities reach our true potential.”

He continued, “Ownership matters, especially in media, which must do a better job of realistically reflecting communities of color. Ownership means control and the best way to determine one’s fate. And today, we are taking our destinies, and those of our community, into our own hands.”

Judi Lopez

Lopez said: “Under our new, Latino ownership and management, Fuse will continue our mission that started over 16 years ago:  to serve the Latino audience with authentic representation of all aspects of their lives and culture — from Dreamers and Afro-Latinos, to recent immigrants and families that have been here for generations. Fuse looks forward to working with our distribution partners to further reach this rapidly growing and diverse segment of the U.S. video marketplace, offering a unique home for a historically underserved audience that deserves to see a true reflection of America — the country in which they live — with authentic images and stories they expect to see.”

Romero, providing a Madison Avenue perspective, said: “Our clients understand that brands must reflect their customers. By partnering with Fuse, they know they are connected to an audience that is young, diverse and inclusive. These brand partners also benefit from our programming that represents all of the voices that make up the Latino community, and provides a common thread that unites us all, and allows us to be seen and heard.”

“Brand builders should look at this development with great interest,” MARCA’s Nieves said. “The Latino community is an enormous factor in the economic, social and political fabric of America and Fuse Media is a powerful way of engaging this influential audience.”