http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/ne ... e-news.asp

Discovery Enhances Hispanic Market
April 22, 2005
CHRISTINA HOAG

Discovery en espanol will no longer be an orphan.

The Spanish-language cable channel, geared to the U.S. Hispanic market, is getting two new siblings in June along with increased attention from its global multichannel parent Discovery Networks.

It's part of Discovery's strategy to make inroads in the mushrooming U.S. Hispanic pay-TV market with a new Miami-based division, the U.S. Hispanic Networks Group, launched two weeks ago with some 15 staffers in programming, advertising sales, research and distribution.

"We decided the convergence was right to take a major role in the U.S. Hispanic market," said Luis Silberwasser, vice president and general manager of the new division. "For the first time, we're going to have a dedicated group of people working on this."

Discovery launched its "en espanol" channel seven years ago for U.S. Spanish-speakers, but has largely focused on developing Spanish-language channels in Latin America and Iberia.

About a year ago, Discovery started researching opportunities to lure more U.S. Hispanic viewers and came up with two "underserved, underprogrammed" niches: shows for children and women, Silberwasser said.

"If you're a Hispanic woman, your choice is a lot of soap operas and general entertainment and nothing else," Silberwasser said. "If you want your kids to watch programming in Spanish, there's not a lot of choices."

To start transmitting on June 17, Viajar y Vivir (Travel and Living) is designed to be a lifestyle channel aimed at women, with programming to encompass travel, food and home decoration.

Starting on the same date, Discovery Kids en espanol will offer "safe haven" programming with educational value: preschool fare in the morning, shows for school-aged kids in the afternoon and family programs on animals and nature in the evening.

Programming for the two channels will come mostly from Discovery's other channels around the world.

Discovery's push into the U.S. Hispanic market comes amid an explosion in pay-TV channels aimed at stateside Spanish-speakers. Last year, 19 networks were launched, many of them channels from Latin America, with another half-dozen announced to go up this year.

The avalanche in players has resulted in tough competition to grab space on pay-TV systems' Hispanic tiers.

Silberwasser said the network is currently negotiating distribution agreements, adding that Discovery's well known brand stands the two new channels in good stead as some of the start-up competition will undoubtedly fall by the wayside in the short term.

"I think we're in a good position to capitalize on that," he said.

Analysts said the strategy makes sense financially because it likely will not require a big investment and Discovery is already well known by viewers, but that does not mean it's a slam-dunk.

"They're leveraging off what they've already got, finding new ways to get more mileage out of their resources," said Jake Balzer, senior equity analyst at Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables. "The Spanish-language market is increasing, but competition is increasing as well."