Deportes Telemundo Executives Honored With Emmys.

Deportes Telemundo’s top two executives, EVP Jorge Hidalgo and Director, Guillermo Santa Cruz, were honored with a Sports Emmy from the National Television Academy at its 26th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony held last night in New York City. Hidalgo and Santa Cruz were part of the producers included in NBC’s Sports nomination in the Outstanding Live Event Turnaround category for the broadcast of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad.

“Telemundo and NBC made television history together with the broadcast of the 2004 Olympics and it makes us very proud to see that the National Academy recognized our efforts”, said Telemundo President, Don Browne. “Jorge’s and Guillermo’s hard work and leadership is a great example of the formidable team we have in place and why we are very optimistic about the future of our network.”

Under Hidalgo’s and Santa Cruz’s leadership, Telemundo brought the U.S. Hispanic audience 174 hours of Olympic programming en español for the first time in U.S. television history. The Olympic broadcast on Telemundo began on Aug. 11, two days before the Opening Ceremony, and it included a wide variety of events that were of the Hispanic audience’s preference; interviews with Hispanic athletes; unique stories geared to the U.S. Hispanic audience; and special programs from the network’s studios in Athens with renowned Sports Anchors, Jessi Losada and Andrés Cantor.

Recognized as one of the most influential executives in Sports by publications such as Sports Illustrated, Poder and Hispanic Business, Jorge Hidalgo was named to his current post Executive Vice President of Deportes Telemundo in 2003. He joined Telemundo in 1999; undertaking the challenge of developing the Spanish-language network’s Sports franchise. Among his most recent accomplishments are the re-signing of a multi-year contract with Mexico’s and United States’ national soccer teams for the broadcast of all World Cup qualifier matches as well as preparation games on Telemundo. He also established the first crossover broadcast for NBC Sports, in which the Telemundo production team, as well as Sports Commentator Jessi Losada, broadcast the newly created NBC Boxing series in two languages for both networks. Most recently, Hidalgo was named executive in charge for the network’s entertainment news show “Cotorreando”.