MTV Tres

MTV Tres
Launched September 4, 2006
Owned by Viacom Media Networks (Viacom)
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Slogan MTV, Música y Más
(MTV, Music and More)
Country United States
Language English
Spanish
Broadcast area Nationwide
Headquarters Miami, Florida
Formerly called MTV en Español (1999–2006)
Replaced Más Música (1998–2006)
MTV en Español (1999–2006)
Sister channel(s) MTV, MTV2
Website www.tr3s.com/
Availability
Terrestrial
Available on television stations in certain markets See list below
Satellite
DirecTV 445 (SD)
1445 (VOD)
Dish Network 872 (SD)
G-18
N/Central America/Caribbean
4040 V / 29270 / 3/4
VCT 766 / Channel 770 (West)
(Transponder 17)
SES-2
N/Caribbean
11750 V / 7320 / 7/8
VCT 553 / Channel 210 (East)
(Transponder 2)
Cable
Available on most U.S. cable systems Consult your local cable provider for channel availability

MTV Tres (stylized as tr3́s, and taken from the Spanish word for the number three, tres) is an American broadcast, digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by the MTV Networks Music & Entertainment Group, a division of the Viacom Media Networks subsidiary of Viacom. Programming on Tr3s includes lifestyle series, customized music video playlists, news documentaries that celebrate Latino culture, music and artists, and English-subtitled programming in Spanish imported from the MTV España and MTV Latin America channels as well as Spanish-subtitled programming from MTV.[1] The channel is targeted toward bilingual Latinos and non-Latino Americans aged 12 to 34.[2]

The channel is headed by executive vice president and general manager Jose Tillan. As of August 2013, Tr3s is available to approximately 36 million pay television households (totaling 32% of households with television) in the United States.[3]

History

MTV en Español

MTV en Español logo.

In 1998, MTV Networks launched a 24-hour digital cable channel, MTV S (the "S" standing for "Spanish").[4] On October 1, 2001, the channel was relaunched as MTV en Español,[5] focusing on music videos by Latin rock and pop artists.[6] The rebranded network mainly utilized the eight-hour automated music video playlist wheel used by sister networks MTV2, MTV Hits and MTVX (later MTV Jams) without any original programming, except for repurposed content from MTV's Latin America networks.

Acquisition of Más Música

Más Música logo.

Más Música, founded in 1998, was a network distributed in the United States on cable, satellite and broadcast television that aired music videos from various Latin American music styles, including salsa, cumbia, regional Mexican, and contemporary Spanish-language hits. Founded by Eduardo Caballero of Caballero Television,[7] Más Música carried the minimum requirements of educational and public affairs programming on weekends, and it was carried mainly on low-power television stations throughout the United States.

In December 2005, Viacom acquired Más Música and ten of the network's affiliated stations. The sale was finalized in January 2006.[8]

Launch of MTV Tres

MTV Tres logo used from 2006 to 2010.

MTV Tr3s unofficially launched on September 4, 2006, when it became available on all cable and satellite providers that previously carried MTV en Español. On September 25, 2006, MTV en Español and Más Música officially merged. The first program to air on the newly formed channel was the premiere of Mi TRL at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

In its beginnings, MTV Tr3s's programming schedule was significantly more repetitive than MTV en Español was in its last days. The channel aired shows such as Hola, My Name is MTV Tr3s, the Top 20 Countdown, Los Hits, Mis #1s, Sucker Free Latino (only running two new shows per week), Latina Factor, Mi TRL, MTV Tr3spass, Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2006, Making the Video and Diary; the latter two and many other programs from MTV are merely subtitled into Spanish rather than carrying re-dubbed versions. These programs were repeated for most of the day, which greatly reduced the amount of freeform music videos played on the channel. As months passed, however, the programming became more varied and diverse, with changing music video blocks airing several times in the day.

MTV Tres also ran short clips promoting the channel, which continue to air to this day, which were intended as transitions out of commercial breaks. These included the "MTV Tr3s: We Speak Your Language" original launch ad campaign, showing a short clip of a situation where the behavior and attitude of a younger Latino of the present generation was different from that of an older person of Latino heritage. Also, artists of Latino or Hispanic descent were shown voicing their opinions on certain aspects of culture of their native country or of Latinos living in America; such clips included "Pitbull on Cuban Women", "Jeannie Ortega on Parties", and "Frankie J on being Latino".

On February 5, 2007, the channel held its first "Spankin' New" week, which featured daily music video premieres, the premiere of Wrestling Society X (although the program had been already airing on MTV back on January 30), and the debut of a new episode of Making the Video, which covered the first single, "Qué Hiciste" from Jennifer Lopez's first full-length Spanish-language album, Como Ama una Mujer.

Relaunch as Tres

On July 12, 2010, MTV Tres dropped the MTV name from its logo and name, officially rebranding as simply Tr3s.[9] With the rebrand, the network expanded its programming to include additional acquired MTV programs and series from Viacom's Latin American networks. Eventually, Viacom re-sold some of the stations acquired in the Más Música deal in California and Texas back to Caballero Television, and has drawn down the amount of broadcast stations carrying the network.

Programming

Tr3s broadcasts on an Eastern Time schedule (with programs shown at earlier or later times depending on the location) and does not timeshift its programming for other U.S. time zones due to the lack of an additional feed for the Pacific Time Zone. As such, promos for Tr3s programs reference airtimes for both the Eastern and Pacific time zones (for example, the now-defunct Mi TRL, is promoted as airing on Mondays at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, and simultaneously airs at 1:30 p.m. in the Pacific Time Zone).

Music video programs

Some of Tr3s's music video blocks were branded as Cafeina[10] (formerly titled Cortadito until September 2008, and airing from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time), Videorama[11] (running from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time, but rarely scheduled) and Videosomnia[12] (running from 2:00 to 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time). Other music video programming not hosted by VJ's have included:

The following music video programs are hosted by VJ's who primarily host in English:

MTV Tr3s used opening sequences for music video shows similar to those seen on MTV2. To indicate the beginning of a music video program, a still photograph of a point of interest from a city or neighborhood would be displayed, with MTV Tr3s' "accented three" (3́) logo animating and leading to a monochrome title card with the music video program title displayed. These opening sequences were revised in late August 2008.

Tr3s has also broadcast other MTV music-related specials such as MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve 2007 and Common and will.i.am Present: The Music of Freedom Writers. Occasionally, Making the Video may air on Tr3s, if the video is performed by or features an artist of Latino or Hispanic origin. In addition, during the last two weeks of September 2007, the channel rebroadcast the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, in conjunction with its broadcast of the MTV Latin America Video Music Awards.

During the week of September 17 to 20, 2007, the channel showed highlights from the Rock am Ring music festival daily at midnight Eastern Time (9:00 p.m. Pacific Time), focusing on one band's set each day.

Non-music programming

Some reality and scripted series also air on the channel, which are acquired from the flagship U.S. MTV channel (and subtitled in Spanish) as well as from MTV Latin America and Nickelodeon Latin America (which are natively broadcast in Spanish and subtitled in English for broadcast on American television). These types of programs air for no more than three hours at a time, thus allowing more music videos to be played during the day. Some of the programs may have little or nothing to do with Latino culture and possibly only air on Tr3s to allow Viacom to maintain syndication rights to the programs without threatening ratings on higher-profile networks.

Tr3s introduced "Tr3s Jr.," a Spanish-language version of the Nick Jr. block, in July 2010, featuring Spanish-language dubs of Nick Jr.'s Blue's Clues (branded as Pistas de Blue and only including the episodes hosted by Steve Burns) and Wonder Pets. The block was discontinued in October 2010.

Class A affiliates (and previously, former full-power affiliate KBEH-TV) air archived Nick Jr. series Allegra's Window and Gullah Gullah Island in order to fulfill E/I programming requirements set by the Federal Communications Commission.

Acquired programming

Original programming

Broadcast affiliates

Most of the broadcast stations that air Tr3s serve communities with large Hispanic populations. Upon the merger of Más Música and MTV Tr3s, however, former Más Música affiliate WZXZ-CA in Orlando, Florida switched to MTV2, before affiliating with America TéVé, and WUBX-CA and WBXU-LP in the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, North Carolina market ceased operations completely. Tr3s is carried nationwide on most major digital cable and satellite television providers, including in areas that do not have an over-the-air MTV Tr3s affiliate.

The following is a list of broadcast television stations currently affiliated with Tr3s (stations in bold are owned-and-operated by Viacom):

City Station/Channel Number Notes
Fresno KZMM-CD 22
San Luis Obispo KMMA-CD 41
Santa Barbara KVMM-CD 41 Viacom's only remain broadcast property as of April 2015.
Santa Maria KQMM-CD 29
San Antonio KMHZ-LP 11

Former affiliates

City Station/Channel Notes Current Status
Fresno/Hanford, California KHMM-CD 23 Formerly owned by Viacom Now Defunct
Los Angeles, California KBEH 63 Was a CNN Latino affiliate, Now showing Informercials in Spanish
San Diego, California KSDY-LD Was also seen in parts of Tijuana, Mexico Was V-Mas, Now a Milenio TV affiliate
Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto KMMK-LP Was a repeater of both former sister stations KUUM-CD & KMMW-LD, and was also formerly owned by Viacom Now defunct
KMUM-CD 15 / KMMW-LD 47 Both Stations were formerly owned by Viacom Now Telemundo affiliates
Salinas / Monterey / Santa Cruz, California KMMD-CD 39 Now a 3ABN Latino affiliate
San Francisco/Oakland
/San Jose, California
KMMC-LP 40
Denver KLPD-LD 28.2 Was BIZ TV, Now a HSN affiliate
West Palm Beach, Florida WBWP-LD 57 Now a MundoFox affiliate
Atlanta, Georgia WTBS-LP 26 Also was seen on WANN-LD 32.2 WTBS-LP (replaced by MundoFox)
WANN-LD (replaced by Retro Television Network)
Indianapolis WBXI-CA 47 CBS Television Stations O&O Switched to a looping of Local Weather Radars & Forecast
Laughlin, Nevada KMOH-TV 6 Now a MundoFox affiliate
Amarillo KAMM-LP 30 Broadcast license cancelled by FCC in 2014.
Austin KGBS-CD 19 Formerly owned by Viacom Replaced with Informercials
Beaumont, Texas KUMY-LD 22 Was Retro Television Network, Now an affiliate of Soul of the South Network
Brownsville, Texas XHRIO-TV 2 Programming aired during the overnight and early morning hours[20] also was seen around Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico Now a MundoFox affiliate
Corpus Christi, Texas KCBO-LP 49 Now a FamilyNet affiliate
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas KATA-CD 50 Was LATV, Now a Soul of the South Network affiliate
Del Rio/Eagle Pass, Texas KVAW 16 Was also seen in major cities in Mexico near the border between Texas and Coahuila, Mexico Currently silent
McAllen/Harlingen, Texas KFXV-LD 67/KTIZ-LP 52 Secondary affiliation during early morning hours Now a primary Fox and secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate
Midland/Odessa, Texas K22IZ 22.1 Was a TéLé-Romantica affiliate, Currently silent

See also

References

  1. Navarro, Mireya (2006-09-25). "MTV's New Spanish Channel (page 1 of 2)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  2. Becker, Anne (2006-04-03). "MTV Christens MTV Tr3s". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  3. Seidman, Robert (August 23, 2013). "List of How Many Homes Each Cable Networks Is In - Cable Network Coverage Estimates As Of August 2013". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  4. Hay, Carla. MTV Latin Channel To Become 'MTV EspaÑol'. Billboard: August 24, 2001
  5. Hay, Carla. Latin Mtv Set To Relaunch As Mtv Español. Billboard: September 1, 2001
  6. Marroquin, Elena. Hispanic Cable Television Landscape. Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau
  7. Meet Eduardo Caballero
  8. Higgins, John M. (2006-04-02). "MTV Makes Bilingual Music". Broadcastingcable.com. Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  9. "Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas is the PLace to Be on July 12th for Latinos Seeking a New Prime-Time Destination". Earth Times. July 7, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  10. Cortadito
  11. Videorama
  12. Videosomnia
  13. Classic Co.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Los hits
  15. TXTO
  16. TXTO URB
  17. MixMex
  18. El Sonidero
  19. Video party mix
  20. "Programming". Fox Rio 2 website. Retrieved 2008-12-09.

External links