Upfront Reviews: Univision, Telemundo, mun2, ESPN Deportes, Discovery U.S. Hispanic, Nuvo TV, Estrella TV

Univision CommunicationsVenue Al Hirschfeld Theater on W 45th St home of Kinky Boots last year39s Tonywinning best musical Broadway theaters have been Univision39s goto venues for a halfdecade This upfront was its most attended yet standing room only on all sides of the balcony with other people between the aisles Grade 45 JacksPresentation While time was devoted to the company39s moves over the last year into Englishlanguage Latinomillennial content including the launch of Fusion in partnership with ABC News the El Rey Network via investment and the 10part documentary collaboration with Pivot the breadandbutter goal is attracting Spanishlanguage advertisers One fun way Univision highlights that intention is by letting their ad sales chief loose on stage Accordingly Steve Mandala decked out in rapper39s gear surrounded by dancers performed quotTalk Spanish to Mequot a takeoff on the rap hit quotTalk Dirty to Mequot amp8211 with Pitbull Ricky Martin and Univision talent joining in the chorus via video quotThat makes two years in a row with complete selfhumiliationquot he joked after his rap turn Mandala and other Univision executives stressed their ability to reach an unduplicated Latino audience through the networkamp8217s services Big negative surprise Only a quick moment devoted to Galavision the company39s topperforming cable channel with nothing about its future direction Big positive surprise Carlos Santana and Juanes teaming up for a closing number then Santana and his guitar bringing the house down with quotOye Como Vaquot Grade 45 JacksNews American Idol creatorjudge Simon Cowell will put together La BandaThe Band a new Univision competition series looking for the next Latino boy band Cowell in his trademark white Tshirt came on stage to break that announcement Sister channel UniMas will offer Entre LineasBetween the Lines a group of twohour documentary specials and several biodrama series including Las Fiesta del ChivoThe Feast Of the Goat about Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo and El Varon de la DrogaThe Drug Lord dealing with recently captured trafficker quotEl Chapoquot Guzman Grade 45 JacksHost Solid effort by Mandala and his colleagues especially Univision NewsFusion lead executive Isaac Lee Grade 45 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Yeartoyear Univision39s event scores with its production values and choice of closing performances usually among the best of the upfront bunch The lack of news about Galavision and Pivot39s documentary projects brought this Jack score down a pegTelemundomun2Venue Last time around this upfront season for the beautiful and very presentationfriendly Jazz at Lincoln Center39s Rose Hall Grade 5 JacksPresentation Assisted by a video depicting every buzzword or acronym used among this year39s upfronts ad sales executive vice president Mike Rosen urged the audience to be more creative in reaching Latinos quotYou should outsmart and outshine not simply outshoutquot Rosen told attendees With that Rosen unveiled quotTotal Market Innovationquot a project inviting advertisers to come up with unique Telemundo and mun2 campaigns with a guarantee attached If the result doesn39t live up to preset goals Telemundomun2 will rebate the money gap to the participating advertiser The event also served to introduce the new people presiding over both channels Luis Silberwasser at Telemundo starts in August and Ruben Mendiola at mun2 on hand Popbachata sensation Prince Royce closed the show with a threesong set including his hit version of quotStand by Mequot joined by the first La Voz KidsThe Voice Kids winner Grade 45 JacksNews Under new president Mendiola mun2 will become parent NBC Universal39s goto place for Spanishlanguage sports coverage starting February 2015 with the Super Bowl following Fox Deportes39 firstever live simulcast of that event and continuing with the Women39s World Cup soccer tournament next summer from Canada NASCAR racing and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio His channel will also get back in the scripted marketplace with Maria Entre Todos Los Mueros a femaleoriented take on zombie dramas and dive into reality with the controversial singer Gloria Trevi At Telemundo 800 hoursplus of new content includes Senora AceroMrs Acero the telenovela under development in English for USA Network El JardineroThe Gardener a telenovela about an illegal immigrant living in Los Angeles and You Soy El ArtistaI Am the Artist a talent search series Also Telemundo39s Fluency unit English or Spanish multiplatformmulticultural productions launches Isa its first 90minute movie on Syfy next month Based on the clips presented Syfy might want to greenlight a series out of this if viewers embrace the film Grade 5 JacksHost Chores split by Rosen NBC39s Hispanic Enterprises chairman Joe Uva and Telemundo programming executive vice president Jesus Torres Viera who has a nice humorous touch Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Had one of last week39s big announcements with mun239s huge sports bet plus offered advertisers still on the fence about advertising in Spanish a nolose way to participate with quotTotal Market InnovationquotESPN DeportesVenue Hearst Tower on the corner of 8th Ave and W 57th St Second year in a row for ESPN at this location An auditorium near the lobby elevators was used the first time around For round two a room on the 44th Floor was used with everyone seated at tables and plush chairs arranged in a semicircle in front Grade 45 JacksPresentation Latinos are more into live sports beyond a diet of soccer and boxing and ESPN Deportes is the place to find and enjoy those sports in plentiful fashion especially events across the USA That was the underlying message this channel drove home through statements stats and a trio of short panels featuring athletes and Deportes commentators One stat example baseball ratings are up 63 percent so far this season quotThe immigrant that plays sports has a place at the water coolerquot insisted Alvaro Martin Deportes39 lead pro footballbasketball playbyplay announcer quotWe have to address them allquot Grade 45 JacksNews Coming attractions during 201415 include the first National Football League playoff game in Deportesamp8217 history the first college football playoff weekend editions of Nacion ESPN SportsNation from Los Angeles and more than 125 hours of live Pan American Games coverage 36 sports next July from Toronto Grade 35 JacksHost Ernesto Jerez Deportes baseball analyst and series host hit a smooth tone throughout and moderated the panels in relaxed fashion Grade 45 JacksOverall Grade 4 Jacks Good format pace and panelistsDiscovery US HispanicVenue Stage 37 on W 37th St near 11th Ave another venue that mixed up the seating arrangement to nice effect chairs up front benches in the back amp8211 enhanced by a huge screen in the center with tall vertical screens on the sides Grade 45 JacksPresentation Past efforts on behalf of Spanishlanguage Discovery En Espanol and Discovery Familia emphasized spectacular videos while skimping on perspective from executives or talent Not this one Executive or talent commentary came before or after each video starting with card trickery from Antonio Diaz an outstanding magician and host of new en Espanol series El Mago Pop Discovery chief executive David Zaslav chimed in early on promising attendees that this season ahead will ignite big things for both networks quotThe Hispanic market is key to the future success of our companyquot he said quotWe39re driving these channels harder so look for much more original contentquot put together from parent Discovery39s 16 billion programming budget this year Grade 4 JacksNews Discovery en Espanol39s lineup for the months ahead includes two original seriesMago Pop with Diaz traveling with his magic worldwide andTexas TrocasTexas Trucks following a Texasbased Latino family in the bigrig business At Discovery Familia one highlight will be Soy Muy Joven Para EstoI Don39t Have Time for This a special about five Latinas facing breast cancer Grade 35 JacksHost Good turns by general manager Ivan Bargueiras and colleagues Grade 35 JacksOverall Grade 4 Jacks Another candidate for comeback presentation of 2014Nuvo TVVenue Edison Ballroom on W 47th St near Broadway home to National Geographic39s NewFront event the week before In an effort to get a more relaxed cozy atmosphere the main floor was filled with sofas and small tables instead of chairs arranged in rows At one point preshow smoke billowed from the stage which for a few moments threatened to get out of control and leave some attendees coughing Grade 4 JacksPresentation More variety showlike in nature than most upfronts arranged by program category Speechmaking by Nuvo executives including Jennifer Lopez now a year into her role as chief creative officer was kept to a minimum with the majority of time taken by videos Short Latin dance routines on the floor nicely choreographed by Brice Mousset served as bridge segments With Nuvo39s primetime ratings up 22 percent since a format relaunch last summer Latinos quotare the gamechangers for America39s cultural and economic futurequot Lopez said quotWe want to become the definitive place for the modern Latinoquot Anyone wondering how Nuvo39s recent 200 million purchase of Fuse from Madison Square Garden will impact both networks will have to keep wondering for a while With that deal expected to wrap early July Nuvo CEO Michael Schwimmer didn39t offer any clues beyond maintaining that the channels will not merge Grade 4 JacksNews Nu America a set of nonfiction series and specials with topical issues in the background premieres July 16 with Los Jets about a North Carolina high school soccer team with a number of undocumented members Talent competition series Sensation looking for the next wellrounded Latino entertainer singingdancingacting is set to launch next spring In between expect an increased number of music comedy performance and live boxing specials Reformatting of the channel39s Web site and a TV Everywhere app will happen before the end of 2014 A move into scripted content will happen in midlate2015 at the earliest Grade 35 JacksHost Lopez who came on at the end chief executive officer Michael Schwimmer and colleagues were solid Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 4 Jacks Effective format that didn39t go overboard using Edison39s nightclub setting to advantage except for the smoke momentsEstrella TVVenue Hudson Hotel on W 58th St north of Columbus Circle and Time Warner Center which made its upfront debut earlier this spring via ReelzChannel This time out two sections of its rooftop terrace were used an outdoor patio for cocktails and an enclosed space for dinner Salmon short ribs and cheese ravioli were on the buffet menu Throw in a clear slightly cool night and the patio became a hot space for sunsetwatching Grade 45 JacksPresentation Quick set of speeches about the channel39s ratings growth over the last year and additional commitments to original madeintheUS Spanishlanguage programming Chief operating officer Winter Horton invited the agency crowd to come up with new sponsorship and product integration approaches quotI challenge you to challenge usquot Horton declared quotWe39ll overdeliver every timequot One huge problem no videos highlighting current programs or upcoming ventures The video screens around the room were used to flash Estrella39s logo or briefly title cards of new projects Grade 25 JacksNews The network will enter the morning newsinformation show arena by year39s end with Buenos Dias Familia Good Morning Family a threehour weekday series For primetime the big new nearterm attraction is Rico Famoso Latina adopting the Real Housewives approach minus most of the tempertantrum drama to showcase accomplished women Producers of this series will also handle Premios El Don a new awards ceremony honoring Latino filmmakers and actors aimed at next January after the Golden Globes Grade 4 JacksHost Estrella execs took turns at the role starting with executive vice president of national sales Judy Kenny Grade 3 JacksOverall Grade 3 Jacks Attractive location nice cuisine and remarks that light interest with a crowd only go so far If people don39t see your network in action or what39s in store you have little chance to make headway with them Next time around bring videos5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Upfront Reviews: Univision, Telemundo, mun2, ESPN Deportes, Discovery U.S. Hispanic, Nuvo TV, Estrella TV

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Upfront Reviews: Univision, Telemundo, mun2, ESPN Deportes, Discovery U.S. Hispanic, Nuvo TV, Estrella TV

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