NBC’s buying KDEN Denver for Telemundo

NBC Universal has agreed to purchase KDEN Denver from Longmont Broadcasting. NBC characterized the deal as “strengthening the company’s Telemundo network coverage in the 16th largest U.S. Hispanic market.â€? KDEN will be NBC’s 17th Spanish-language television station once the sale is approved by the FCC.

With the completion of the KDEN acquisition, Telemundo will reach 100% of the Hispanic households in the Denver market. In addition, Telemundo will be available locally on both EchoStar and DirecTV, and KDEN is included in local cable operators’ basic package of programming. The new signal will replace NBC Universal’s current low-power Telemundo stations, KMAS and KSBS.

KDEN is the latest investment made by NBC Universal in the Telemundo Television Stations Group. In May 2005 the company purchased the full-power television station KBLR Las Vegas, the country’s 25th largest Hispanic TV market. Four months later the FCC approved a channel exchange for its Telemundo television station in Phoenix, which will enable Telemundo to boost the signal from low-power to full-power, and, for the first time, provide Phoenix-area viewers with a second alternative to Spanish-language programming in that market.

Denver is the 16th largest Hispanic market in the country, accounting for over 194,000 Hispanic TV Households and a Hispanic penetration of 14%. With a total population of more than 3.6 million in 2004, almost 20% of Denver’s population (700,000) is Hispanic.