Azteca America 2003 – 2004 Upfront.

Azteca America, TV Azteca’s S.A. de C.V. wholly-owned broadcasting network focused on the U.S. Hispanic market, celebrated its first upfront presentation to the network advertising community.

Hosted by Ricardo B. Salinas, chairman of the board of TV Azteca, the event not only showcased the opportunities available to the advertising community, but it also demonstrated the tremendous progress made by the network over the past year. At the first-time event that kicked off the Hispanic television presentations, Azteca America announced the network had reached a landmark 60% coverage rate, with plans for additional affiliates to be announced in the near future.

“Everyone of us at Azteca America feels incredibly energized, because today we are making a little bit of history,” said Ricardo B. Salinas in his presentation to top representatives of the US Hispanic advertising community. “Today is the moment to take the competition head on. We’re the only Hispanic network that speaks the language from top to bottom of our company.”

The Hispanic network’s upfront presentation focused on 2003-2004 season programming, including the highly anticipated novelas Mirada de Mujer II and Enamórate, starring the finalist of Azteca’s hit reality show La Academia. Yahir also gave a live performance of “Alucinado,” the title track of his namesake platinum CD.

The event also included presentations from Luis J. Echarte, president and CEO of Azteca America; Mario San Román, chief operating officer of TV Azteca; and Phillip Woodie, president of sales and marketing at Azteca America, as well as the presence of Gustavo Guzmán, president of sales of TV Azteca.

“It has been a long way up to this point in the life of our network. We’ve had a very warm reception from the advertising community;” commented Luis J. Echarte. “Our strong production capabilities together with growing distribution offer a powerful and differentiating tool to continue expanding this market.”