Comcast Expands Carriage Of 8 Hispanic Networks

Media and entertainment company Comcast Corp. said Tuesday it is expanding the carriage of eight Hispanic networks by about 14 million total subscribers.

Comcast said that while acquiring NBCUniversal, it agreed to increase the distribution of at least three networks that are American Latino-owned or -controlled or target the Latino community by at least 10 million digital basic subscribers within six months after the deal closed on January 28.

Comcast said it will surpass that goal by 40 percent by adding approximately 14 million subscribers to eight Hispanic networks.

The eight Hispanic or Spanish-language networks that have expanded carriage on Comcast systems are Azteca America, Galavision, HITN, LATV, -mun2, Telefutura, Telemundo and Univision.

The increased carriage for these networks will be achieved primarily by adding the channels to new cable systems and markets.

Comcast, which serves more than 23 million subscribers across the United States, provides more than 60 Hispanic or Spanish-language networks on most of its major cable systems.

Enhancing the reach of these networks is the latest in a series of steps Comcast is taking to increase the availability of minority-focused programming on its cable systems.