MundoFox, New Spanish-Language Channel from News Corp., Debuts; Competition for Univision and Telemundo Tightens

As Latinos Post previously reported, television executives are trying to target the 50 million Hispanics watching television, most watching Univision and Telemundo, but News Corporation launched its latest channel aimed to attract those numbers.

In partnership with Colombia's RCN, News Corporation debuted MundoFox, a Spanish-language channel on Aug. 13.

MundoFox is currently airing in 50 markets, reaching out to 80 percent of the Hispanic population in the US.  The percentage is only 16 percent shy from Univision's access in Hispanic households, and eight percent below their sister network Telefutura.

President and CEO of Fox International Channels Hernan Lopez said MundoFox gives Hispanics a third choice in programming and hopes to blend American-style shows with Spanish.

"When you're a Latino you have potentially two choices: You either have Spanish-language television that hasn't changed very much in ten years, that's very heavy on telenovelas and speaks much to the traditional Latino viewers," said Lopez. "And then you have the best television in the world, which happens to be in English. There isn't a third choice, and MundoFox is coming in to bring that third choice. That means television that feels, looks, sounds like American shows, but just happens to be created in Spanish."

News Corp. hopes their new Spanish network will have the same success as their English-language Fox network which launched twenty-six years ago. Fox now leads in the 18-49 year old demographic, important to advertisers.

Although MundoFox is trying to reach to the 50 million Hispanics, a Nielson ratings study last year reported the average US television viewer watching a little over five hours of television daily, but Latinos watch four hours and 35 minutes daily.

A spokesperson for Telemundo's parent company NBCUniversal told Reuters they welcome the new competition.

"The fact that there are new players coming to our industry validates the power and influence of the U.S. Hispanic market and helps increase the awareness of the opportunities in this dynamic and vibrant audience," said the spokesperson.

MundoFox programming includes a Spanish-language version of the NBC show Minute to Win It titled Minuto para Ganar, Kdabra, El Capo, and dubbed versions of Bones and American Dad.

Click Here to Find MundoFox on Your Market.