EXCLUSIVE: Telemundo to Add 1,000 Hours of News by January

Move is a condition in the Comcast/NBCU deal order, but Gordon says it is good for business, public interest 8/08/2011 12:01:00 AM Eastern

By: John Eggerton

In a wide-ranging expansion, Spanish language
TV broadcaster Telemundo will unveil its plans this
week for adding 1,000 hours of news and local public
affairs programming to its dozen
owned television stations within the
next six months, according to a copy
of those plans obtained by B&C/Multichannel
News.

That figure includes new weekend
local newscasts in New York and Dallas
and weekday news in Denver.

NBC signaled back in May that it
would outline its game plan for Telemundo’s
news expansion in the summer,
and it is expected to deliver on
that promise with an announcement
Aug. 8.

Ron Gordon, Telemundo station
president told B&C the planned multimillion-
dollar ramp-up predates the
raft of public interest pledges Comcast
made in order to secure government
approval of its purchase of Telemundoparent
NBCUniversal.

“We had made over the past few years
a recommitment to our local stations for
local news in particular, and this has been in the plans for
several years now,” Gordon told B&C. “We were very willing
to make [the commitment] because it was the right thing for
us to do, the right thing for our stations, the right thing for
our community, and the right thing for our business.”

One of the voluntary commitments the Federal Communications
Commission made enforceable during negotiations
was: “Comcast-NBCU’s O&O NBC and Telemundo
stations...will provide thousands of additional hours of local
news and information programming to their viewers.”
The expansion plan “absolutely” delivers on that promise,
says Gordon.

Telemundo’s additional 1,000 hours will increase the
station group’s local news and public affairs programming
output by more than 25% and will be added in stages that
began back in June and will now continue through January,
2012.

The additional hours will include new morning, weekday
and weekend newscasts and public affairs programs that
will, among other things, encourage civic engagement in the
lead-up to the 2012 presidential election.

Telemundo will also make a multimillion-
dollar investment in upgrading
to local HD news production
over the next six months.

The news expansion essentially
began with the June 13 launch of
Buenos Dias Los Angeles (Telemundo
already had a Buenos Dias Miami),
a Monday-Friday local and world
news hour-long program tailored
to Hispanics in Southern California.
Telemundo could eventually be
saying Buenos Dias in New York and
Chicago, says Gordon.

The rest of the rollout schedule is
as follows:

September 2011: Monthly public
affairs programs will begin launching
in Los Angeles, New York, Miami,
Houston, Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix,
with a weekly program debuting
in Puerto Rico. Telemundo describes
the programming as helping viewers
understand “the key role played by Latinos in our country.”
It will also stress the importance of participation in the political
process as the 2012 election season approaches.

October 2011: KDEN Denver will premiere a pair of
weekday, half-hour newscasts at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

January 2012: By this month, KTMD Houston will launch
a local version of Buenos Dias Houston, featuring a format
modeled on Buenos Dias Los Angeles, including local, national
and world news, weather and traffic reports and special
segments tailored to the unique interests of Houston’s
Latino community.

Also by January, half-hour local weekend newscasts will
launch at 6 and 11 p.m. on WNJU New York, KXTX Dallas,
KTMD Houston and WKAQ Puerto Rico.

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