is an network in the US, behind
Univision .
Telemundo is also the only
Spanish-language network currently producing
Telenovelas in the United States.[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070626006499&newsLang=en] Many programs air with closed captions in both Spanish and English. The network reaches 93 percent of U.S. Hispanic households in 142 markets via over-the-air, cable and satellite TV.[http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20060227nuts01]
Telemundo Communications Group , its parent company, is part of the
NBC Universal division of
General Electric , which paid $2.7 billion for the operation in 2002.
Don Browne is the Telemundo's president. Jeff Gaspin, who is president and COO of Universal Television Group, oversees the network. Telemundo has 1,800 employees.
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WKAQ-TV launched the
Telemundo brand on March 28,
1954 . The station was founded by
Angel Ramos , owner of Puerto Rico's main newspaper at the time, "El Mundo" and Puerto Rico's first radio station,
WKAQ-AM , or "Radio El Mundo". Ramos wanted to maintain a consistent branding between its properties using the "mundo" theme ("mundo" is the Spanish word for "world"), and thus named
WKAQ-TV Telemundo. He had tried to obtain a TV license as early as the mid 1940s, but due to an
FCC licensing freeze for all new American TV stations, Ramos had to wait until 1954 to obtain the license.
During the 1970s and 1980s,
WKAQ-TV (then branded as Telemundo Canal 2), was a major producer of
Puerto Rican Spanish soap operas. The channel was also known by its "fingers" logo (a bold number 2 with the silhouette of two upright fingers inside the number), calling itself "El canal de los dedos" (The channel of the fingers).
WKAQ-TV has produced and broadcasted recognized local shows such as "El Show de las Doce", "La Gente Joven de Menudo", "En Casa de Juanma y Wiwi", "Los Kakucomicos",
Noche De Gala , "Teatrimundo", "Estudio Alegre", "La Pension de Dona Tere", "El Show de Chucho", "No te Duermas", "Al Grano con Zervigón", "Marcano el Show", "Con lo que Cuenta este País", "Super Sábados", "Fantástico", "Musicomedia", "El Tío Nobel", "Telecómicas", and "Dame un Break", among others. It also produced famous telenovelas such as "El Hijo de Angela Maria", "Tomiko",
Cristina Bazan , "El Idolo", "Viernes Social", "La Verdadera Eva",
Coralito , "Tanairi" and others. One of the most important producers at WKAQ-TV is
Paquito Cordero , who has been at the station since
1954 both as an actor as well as producer, mostly for "El Show de las Doce", and
Noche De Gala .
In 1985, Estrella Communications, owned by Joe Wallach and Paul Niedermeyer of Reliance Group Holding, purchased
KVEA in
Los Angeles . It became the first full-time independent Spanish language station in Los Angeles. The next year, Reliance acquired the Telemundo brand when it purchased Blair Broadcasting. The purchase included
WSCV in
Ft. Lauderdale /
Miami , Puerto Rico's
WKAQ-TV (known for decades as "Telemundo Canal 2"), and
WNJU in
New York .
In 1987, Reliance merged all these stations into the Telemundo Group. The new corporation quickly went public and launched the Telemundo network. Later that year, it purchased additional stations in San Francisco, Houston and San Antonio.
Between 1988 and 1991, Telemundo acquired stations in
Texas ,
New Mexico ,
Arizona and
Washington . The network decided to outsource their news division in 1988;
CNN to produced two newscasts, branded ''"Noticiero Telemundo CNN"''. Produced in Atlanta, "Noticiero Telemundo CNN" was anchored by Jorge Gestoso and Maria Elvira Salazar.
Lana Montalban who anchored the show knon then as Telemundo HBC, returned to her native Argentina. When Salazar decided to take a reporter's position at Noticiero Univision in Miami, in her place, former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco joined Gestoso. The final incarnation produced in Atlanta was co-anchored by Patricia Janiot.
In 1994, Telemundo caught on the fever of producing 24 hour news. The network launched "Telenoticias" partnering with Argentina's Artear Network, Antena 3 from Spain, and Reuters. The venture was not successful and the service was sold to CBS. Rebranded as "CBS Telenoticias", the network did air all over the Americas.
CBS Telenoticias was sold back to Telemundo and the network branded it "Telemundo International"
In 1992, Telemundo went through another management change under former Univision president Joaquin Blaya. Several major programs were canceled and longtime Telemundo executives were released. The next year, Telemundo branded themselves with the campaign, ''Arriba, Telemundo, Arriba''.
In 1993, Telemundo began the ongoing practice of producing original telenovelas. The first soaps were "''Angelica, mi vida''", "''Marielena''", "''Guadalupe''", "''Señora Tentación''", and "''Tres Destinos''". International markets and syndicators soon courted these shows. Telemundo's effort face an initial set effort was setback, when Mexico's industry leader, Televisa, bought Capitalvision, the production house that had been making the new soap operas.
In 1995, under the direction of Harry Abraham, the network's Executive Vice-President of Programming, Telemundo attempted to "cater" to the Mexicans living in the West Coast. 3 shows were produced out of Hollywood, California. ''La Hora Lunática'' hosted by LA radio personality Humberto Luna. ''El y Ella'' hosted by
Gigi Graciette and Antonio Farre, and ''Dando y Dando'' hosted by Rafael Sigler and produced by Gaspar Diaz who is very well known in his house. The latter show was short lived, while the other two lasted until 1998, when they relocated to Mexico City. After Graciette "left" Telemundo to work at Mexico's Televisa. She was quickly replaced by Sophia Webber These Mexican oriented show's quality left a lot to be desired and were not accepted by the overwhelming majority of viewers and both all of them were cancelled. Telemundo's management chose to produce shows in Miami.
In 1998, Telemundo was bought by a partnership between cable's Liberty Media and entertainment conglomerate
Sony Pictures Entertainment Helmed by yet another management team under the leadership of former
CBS executive Peter Tortoricci, hopes of attracting the bilingual market were explored. ''Lo mejor de los dos Mundos'' ("The best of both worlds") campaign was launched. Several billboards went up in cities such as
Miami and
San Francisco heralding a "new era" for Telemundo.
In 2001, Telemundo was purchased by
NBC and is now a part of
NBC Universal . Jim MacNamara remained at the helm of the network during and after the sale. Their main competitor,
Univision , continues to have an upper hand in the ratings wars, though not in all time slots. Local stations began producing early morning news to be more competitive in their respective markets. Telemundo produces far more programming than Univision and does not rely strictly on Mexican and Venezuelan shows. In contrast, Univision's schedule is heavy on Mexican and Venezuelan shows due to long-term exclusive deals with media giants
Televisa and
Venevisión . After three years, NBC officials asked MacNamara to resign, and replaced him with Don Browne, who had been head of NBC affiliate WTVJ in Miami.
News programs were created in the wake of September 11. "Hoy en el Mundo", anchored by Marian de la Fuente and Jose Diaz Balart went on the air informing viewers of national and international events. This program was yet cancelled by the much heralded arrival of Maria Antonieta Collins from Univision. "Cada Dia con Maria Antonieta" went on the air in 2005. The show never caught on and changes were made. The program now airing is "Cada Dia". Maria Antonieta stayed on and the much recycled Jose Diaz Balart returned yet again to mornings on Telemundo. (Previous attempts anchored by JDB were "Esta Manana", the beforementioned "Hoy en el Mundo" and "Cada Dia".
In
2004 , Telemundo created
Telemundo Television Studios in Miami, Florida. The network also began subtitling many of their telenovelas into English via closed captioning. Under NBC, Telemundo gave greater emphasis to original programming and product placement. The network currently spends $100 million a year producing its own shows.
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In uninterrupted, using pervasive
Product Placement instead of traditional ad spots.
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