Upfront Update: Univision/ESPN Get Their Game (and Grooves) On - Simon Applebaum

UnivisionVenue Spanishlanguage TV39s top dog earned kudos last spring for going Broadway with its presentation so on with a return engagement at the grand New Amsterdam Theater near Times Square One of the more colorful sparkling locales for Broadway musicals New Amsterdam offers great sight lines and the capacity to use multiple monitors on the sides of the stage as well as center similar to Radio City Music Hall Grade 5 JacksPresentation For years Univision was chided both publicly and privately for being behind the curve on extending itself beyond the tube via the Internet or videoondemand or highdefinition format Thanks to enlightened management and viewer demand the company is now all in with digital the Web mobile and tablets The point was celebrated a few minutes into Univision ad sales president David Lawenda39s opening remarks when in flashmob style pseudoaudience members with their smartphones and tablets rose out of their seats up on stage and got their groove on to pop hit That39s How We Like It Lawenda himself let his boogie selfloose crowd cheering all the way Give him props for a willingness to be that way in public and just enjoy the moment When Lawenda and Univision Networks president Cesar Conde weren39t spoofing themselves they were sticking it to the broadcast networks especially NBC killing an animated peacock accompanied by a fading NBC chimes theme declaring how many days Univision topped NBC39s primetime ratings with some demographics or how DVRproof their programming is against all broadcast nets Lawenda also got bold asking advertisers to move 15 percent of their TV budgets his way As for pace it39s down to a sciencebrief but impactful videos boil the segments for individual networks Telefutura Galavision etc to two or three show highlights sprinkle in some humor and a surprise guest Modern Family costar and former Univision personality Sofia Vergara and leave people fired up with a Latino musical superstar Shakira held court without Pitbull he didn39t make it through the pouring rain via airplane on time so we39re told helped by a dazzling laser light display Grade 5 JacksNews Next frontier a service for all screens including connectedsmart TVs with UVideos Digital Network Thousands of hours from Univision39s library mixed in with some original productions will be available once the service launches this summer La Reina Del Sur star Kate Del Castillo has two quotWebnovelasquot in the hopper for UVideos one of which she will direct As for Univision39s TV channels Mexican programmer Televisa continues to dominate the new series supply whether novela Amor Bravio When The Heart Commands on Univision or boxing drama Cloroformo on Galavision One sleeper Galavision MondaythroughThursday primetime entry Detras del SaberBehind Knowledge dealing with unique world facts and stats No update on the UnivisionABC News allnews English cable net starting by mid2013 Grade 4 JacksHost Lawenda and Conde split the assignment each holding up their portions well Nice tongueincheek beginning on Conde39s part letting a boy in his image right down to the tie come out on stage first Grade 5 JacksOverall Grade 5 Jacks On any levelpace message graphics talent opening videos another classic with quotLatinos Live Herequot that should get posted on YouTube like last year39s clip executive attitudeit39s the topsESPNVenue The always dependable and flexible Best Buy Theater near the corner of Broadway and W 44th St To get attendees in the mood ESPN served Mr Met the Kentucky Wildcat and other mascots for breakfast fistpumping or highfiving them at the top or bottom of the lobby escalators Grade 45 JacksPresentation What do you do when your channel doesn39t have big breaking news like grabbing rights to a major sports league or a plethora of new series to hype Answer just play up new seasons of your favorites such as Monday Night Football or College Gameday and throw in top athletes for a quick chat which might produce a tidbit for sports columnists In past years ESPN would wrap this approach inside a mock edition of SportsCenter or ESPN239s SportsNation and the result ended up flat and stilted This time around no issue and the athletes were up to having fun Take Baltimore Ravens defensive star Ray Lewis39 advice to top drafted quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III over how to succeed in the National Football League quotI39d tell them to runquotGrade 45 JacksNews 30 For 30 the Peabodywinning documentary series will return this October with 30 more episodes produced by independent filmmakers This time there will be a separate run of 30 short subjects online premiering on the Grantlandcom site headed by ESPN quotSports Guyquot Bill Simmons Elsewhere ESPN will produce Nine For IX nine specials marking the 40th anniversary of Title IX39s adoption opening the door for women39s athletics this summer Grade 3 JacksHost The tag team of SportsCenter daytime anchor Sage Steele and Mike ampamp Mike In The Morning cohost Mike Greenberg played off each other well A fun watch and always energetic Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 4 Jacks You could say this showcase covered many bases in a fun fashion Guess I did making no apologies for the baseball pun5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badNext up Telemundo Discovery39s US Hispanic services En EspanolFamilia and TBSTNTUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedSimon Applebaum is producerhost of Tomorrow Will Be Televised the weekly Internetdistributed radio program covering the TV scene Simon cal be reached at simonapple04yahoocomRead all Simonamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Tomorrow Will Be TelevisedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe 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 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Upfront Update: Univision/ESPN Get Their Game (and Grooves) On - Simon Applebaum

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Upfront Update: Univision/ESPN Get Their Game (and Grooves) On - Simon Applebaum

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