MundoFox

MundoFox
Type Broadcast television network
Country United States
Availability Nationwide
(available in most areas)
Slogan Nadie Como Tú, Vive MundoFox
(Nobody Like You, Live MundoFox)
Headquarters Los Angeles, California
Owner RCN Televisión (50%)
Fox International Channels (21st Century Fox) (50%)
Key people
 Ibra Morales (president)
Launch date
 August 1, 2012 (soft launch)
August 13, 2012 (formal)
Affiliates List of affiliates
Official website
 www.mundofox.com
Language Spanish

MundoFox (sometimes stylized, particularly on-air, as MundoFOX)[1] is an American Spanish language broadcast television network that is operated as a joint venture between the Fox International Channels subsidiary of 21st Century Fox and Colombian private broadcaster RCN Televisión SA (both companies own 50% of the network).[2][3] The network carries a broad mix of serials (consisting of both telenovelas and teleseries), theatrically released and made-for-home-video films and variety programs, as well as limited news and sports programming.

MundoFox is headquartered with 21st Century Fox's other U.S. television operations in Los Angeles, California.[4][5] The network is headed by its president Ibra Morales, who replaced original president Emiliano Saccone in January 2014.[6]

History

Fox International Channels first used the "mundoFOX" name in 2006, as a branding for the website of the Latin American cable channel Canal Fox. In early 2009, the channel's website introduced a video on demand streaming service for Canal Fox programs in Spanish and Portuguese, which was also branded as mundoFOX[7] (the domain for Canal Fox's website was changed to canalfox.com in early 2012).

The launch of MundoFox as a television network in the United States was announced on January 23, 2012.[4] Hernán López, president and CEO of Fox International Channels, said that the network would cater to "an increasing demand for quality Spanish-language content in the U.S. from both viewers and advertisers."[5] According to 2010 United States Census data, among 309 million U.S. residents, there were 50 million people of Hispanic and Latino heritage (totaling 16% of the population); advertising revenue from the Hispanic/Latino market made up $3.6 billion of the $80 billion (or 4.5% of all ad revenue) in the total domestic market in 2011.[8] López noted that the Fox Broadcasting Company saw "similar dynamics in play" when it launched in October 1986 against established English language networks ABC, NBC and CBS;[5] MundoFox, he added, would seek to replicate Fox's early years while launching against established Spanish language networks Univision, Telemundo and Azteca América.[9][10]

MundoFox commenced programming with a soft launch on some affiliates on August 1, 2012; the network's formal launch occurred twelve days later on August 13.[11]

Programming

MundoFox has production and distribution agreements with companies including network parents Fox International Channels and RCN (as well as RCN co-owned NTN24), Fox Deportes and 21st Century Fox-owned Shine Group (which produced the company's first Spanish-language programs for the network).[12][13] Fox International Channels already produces Spanish-language programming and sports for its Latin American and U.S. Hispanic-oriented cable channels.[14] RCN is one of the largest producers and exporters of Spanish-language television programming,[15] and had previously provided content mainly to Univision sister network TeleFutura; it stopped committing productions to other Hispanic-targeted networks in the U.S. in anticipation of MundoFox's launch.[5]

A signature program format on MundoFox is the "teleseries", which produce fewer episodes compared to telenovelas traditionally seen on Spanish-language television (roughly 80 versus an average of 120), but emphasize action-oriented storylines, diverse locations and increased production values. One such teleseries that appeared on MundoFox at its launch was El Capo, a show produced for RCN by Fox Telecolombia. Once-a-week series are also featured – which air on weekend evenings – including fellow inaugural programs Kdabra and Tiempo Final; the network also airs current and classic telenovelas during the daytime hours (among the initial titles featured on its daytime lineup included Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, the Colombian series that served as the basis for the Televisa novela La Fea Más Bella and the ABC comedy-drama series Ugly Betty, which returned to the network in November 2014). Telenovelas originally aired on the network only on weekdays and in late-night on Saturdays; in April 2014, the network added a three-hour block of comedic and seriocomic telenovelas on Saturday afternoons (which was inaugurated with the network debuts of La Playita, Las Clinicas and the teen-oriented Chica Vampiro).

Until June 30, 2014, MundoFox filled much of its late night and early morning schedule with same-day repeats of telenovelas and teleseries from its daytime schedule as well as novelas exclusive to the late night schedule; the network dropped the overnight and morning repeats on July 1, 2014, replacing them with a mix of Spanish-dubbed and English language infomercials in the 1:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time slot. By effect, this ended the network's status as the only Spanish language commercial broadcast network to carry its entire schedule in widescreen as its infomercial content is produced in 4:3 standard definition (MundoFox's entertainment programs are either natively produced in the 16:9 aspect ratio or upconverted to widescreen for broadcast) as well as giving it the highest infomercial total of any fully programmed commercial television network in the U.S. (MundoFox's nine hours of daily paid programming content surpassed the six hours carried by competitor Estrella TV among Spanish networks, and the eight hours carried by Ion Television (until that network reduced its infomercial block to six hours in January 2015) amongst all networks).

Outside of serialized scripted programs, MundoFox also airs a Sunday morning children's program block that is produced in conjunction with National Geographic Kids and Bento Box Entertainment, "National Geographic Niños", which debuted in September 2012[16] and is intended to meet educational programming guidelines set by the Federal Communications Commission. Lifestyle programs (consisting of how-to and cooking series) also air on the network during the morning hours, particularly on Saturdays; the network also airs game shows, including 100 Latinos Dijeron (which is based on Family Feud) and the now-cancelled Minuto Para Ganar (which continues to air in reruns as of 2015, and is based on Minute to Win It). The network also airs feature films on weekend afternoons, Saturday evenings and select major holidays (such as Christmas, New Year's Day and Thanksgiving), under the umbrella brand "CineMundoFox," consisting of a mix of films produced in Spanish (mainly those from predominately first-language Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico) or Spanish-dubbed versions of movies originally produced in English (including many produced by sister film studio 20th Century Fox and its subsidiaries). The network also originally aired Spanish dubs of select Fox series (such as Bones and American Dad),[17] which were dropped from the schedule by January 2014.

Many of the initial original scripted series that air on MundoFox were produced in Colombia, though the network planned to produce U.S.-based series by its second year at the latest.[17] Even though the network's initial slogan was Americano Como Tú (or "American Like You"), MundoFox's president at the time, Emiliano Saccone, said during its 2013-14 upfront presentation that he planned for the network to increase its "Mexican flavor."[18][19]

News programming

Main article: Noticias MundoFox

In addition to offering entertainment content, MundoFox operates its own news division, Noticias MundoFox, which aims to offer content that is conscious of the Hispanic market in the United States, and the diversity and sensitivities of the different demographics that comprise that market. Noticias MundoFox's operations include a Los Angeles-based newsroom and a bureau in Washington, D.C., and also includes international news content from RCN Televisión's sister international cable news channel, NTN24. The Noticias MundoFox division is operated independently from Fox News Channel, which produces Fox News Sunday and other news content for MundoFox's sister English-language broadcast network, Fox.[2]

Noticias MundoFox produces a weekday evening news program of the same name, currently anchored by Rolando Nichols (formerly of the network's Los Angeles affiliate KWHY-TV), that originates from Los Angeles; two live half-hour newscasts are produced every weekday, one for the east coast and the other for the west coast (originally airing at 6:00 p.m., before moving to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time in 2013) as well as a pre-recorded newscast at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (which also originally aired at 10:00 p.m. Eastern until 2013), which is lighter in tone compared to the 5:30 p.m. edition. In 2013, the network launched a supplementary news and features program, MundoFox Y Ya!, which served as a lead-in to the flagship Noticias MundoFox broadcasts. In addition to conventional news programming, the network also produces Central Fox en MundoFox (an hour-long late night sports highlight and analysis program on Sundays that is produced by Fox Deportes); it also produced an afternoon entertainment news and talk program, Que No Te Cuenten, which lasted until its cancellation in August 2014.

MundoFox plans to further expand the amount of news programming on its schedule over time;[2] to help bolster its news division, in November 2012, MundoFox tapped former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, a contributor to Fox News and its Fox News Latino companion website, to present daily contributions to Noticias MundoFox and host several news specials for the network.[20]

Sports programming

Sports programming featured on MundoFox is produced through Fox Deportes, and includes exclusive U.S. Spanish-language broadcast rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and various soccer tournaments, including Copa Santander Libertadores, Copa Bridgestone Sudaméricana, UEFA Champions League and other European soccer tournaments.

Affiliates

As of February 2015, MundoFox has current or pending affiliation agreements with 62 television stations in 59 television markets encompassing 22 U.S. and two Mexican states, and Puerto Rico.[21]

In the eight months between the announcement of its formation and the network's formal launch, MundoFox expected to have an estimated national affiliate reach of 75% of U.S. households with at least one television set at the time of its launch.[13] By early March 2012, the network reached charter affiliation deals with 20 stations including KWHY-TV in Los Angeles (which serves as the network's West Coast flagship station),[22] WJAN-CD in Miami, KGMC in Fresno[23] and KFWD in Dallas-Fort Worth.[24] These early deals gave MundoFox affiliates in five of the top 10 Hispanic markets and cover at least 40% of U.S. Hispanic households.[25] However, MundoFox's affiliation with WJAN-CD ended on December 28, 2012 with the network's programming moving to full-power station WGEN-TV,[26] which is owned by Caracol Television (RCN's main rival in Colombia) through subsidiary Mapale LLC.

48 stations from MundoFox's initial 50-station affiliate body also committed to developing in-house news departments to provide locally produced Spanish language newscasts to the markets served by the stations, a small number of whom did not have a Spanish language news option on local television at the time of the network's launch (KWHY and WGEN-TV already operate their own news departments). Some affiliates that do not carry full-fledged newscasts may produce two-minute local news capsules inserted into the network’s Noticias MundoFox national evening newscasts,[25] weather updates and/or air local public affairs programming.

References

  1. ↑ "Inicio". MundoFOX. MundoFOX Broadcasting, LLC. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Alex Weprin (May 29, 2012). "Coming Soon: A New Spanish-Language Evening Newscast From Fox". TVNewser. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Murdoch se une a una televisión colombiana para lanzar canal en español en EEUU". Agence France-Presse. January 23, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sam Schechner; Suzanne Vranica (January 23, 2012). "Hispanic TV Gets Crowded". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Anna Marie de la Fuente (January 22, 2012). "MundoFox to launch in the U.S.". Variety. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Ibra Morales Named President of MundoFox". TVNewsCheck. January 24, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Fox International Channels - MundoFox". Fox International Channels. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  8. ↑ Ryan Nakashima (January 23, 2011). "Murdoch’s News Corp to enter Spanish-language broadcast network TV with MundoFox network". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  9. ↑ Lucas Shaw (January 23, 2012). "News Corp. Launches MundoFox, a Challenge to Univision & Telemundo". Reuters. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  10. ↑ Salomón Gisela; Claudia Torrens; Vivian Sequera (January 23, 2012). "Fox y RCN lanzarán nuevo canal de TV en español". El Nuevo Herald. Associated Press. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  11. ↑ "MundoFox Is Aiming Young And Bilingual". TVNewsCheck. July 25, 2012.
  12. ↑ David Lieberman (January 23, 2012). "Fox To Launch Spanish Language TV Network MundoFox This Fall". Deadline.com. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Georg Szalai (January 23, 2012). "News Corp., Partner to Create Spanish-Language Broadcast Network to Rival Univision, Telemundo". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  14. ↑ George Winslow (January 23, 2012). "Fox, RCN Plan New Hispanic Network". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Colombia’s RCN and News Corp to create Univision/Telemundo Rival". Portada. January 23, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Nat Geo Kids & Bento Box Team For MundoFox Programming Block". Deadline.com. September 12, 2012.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "MundoFox sets launch programming lineup". Variety. May 16, 2012.
  18. ↑ Cynthia Littleton (May 15, 2013). "Upfronts: MundoFox Forges Ahead with Novelas, ‘X Factor’". Variety.
  19. ↑ "MundoFox Upfront Leveraging Its Sister Nets". MediaLife Magazine. May 16, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Rick Sanchez to Join News Team at MundoFox". The New York Times. November 13, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Stations for Network - MundoFox". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  22. ↑ Joe Flint (March 4, 2012). "MundoFox makes KWHY-TV Channel 22 its Los Angeles home". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  23. ↑ Tim Baysinger (March 4, 2012). "MundoFox Secures First Affiliation Agreements". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  24. ↑ Ed Bark (June 11, 2012). "Manana: KFWD-TV set to become D-FW's Spanish language MundoFox affiliate, ending association with Belo-owned WFAA8". Uncle Barky's Bytes. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Anna Marie de la Fuente (March 4, 2012). "MundoFox scores affils in 40% of U.S. Hispanic homes". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  26. ↑ "MundoFox Upgrades Affiliation in Miami". Broadcasting & Cable.

External links