Don Browne and Joe Uva, they both get it.

Don Browne and Joe Uva prove what I’ve said all along: You don’t have to be Hispanic to succeed with Hispanics, but you do have to get Hispanics. More importantly, you have to sincerely care about the things Hispanics want, so you can deliver against it.

I’m glad Comcast recognized that a couple of weeks ago when it announced its executive lineup. They kept Browne at the helm of Telemundo.

Browne already had an impressive string of extraordinary accomplishments before taking over as Telemundo’s president in 2005. He served as the Executive Vice President of NBC News in New York, helped create “Dateline,” and was responsible for revitalizing the “Today” show, where he brought in the talents of Katie Couric, Ann Curry and Matt Lauer.

But his love and affinity for Latino culture started even before he did any of those things. He traces it back to the late ’70s when, as a young newsman, he started covering Latin America for CBS. In his own words, he was “enthralled by the culture.” The connection deepened after he became Miami bureau chief for NBC News in 1979.

Then, long before the vast majority was recognizing the change sweeping the United States, he saw the need for a Spanish-language network, and started promoting the idea with his bosses. Eventually, when NBC moved to buy Telemundo in 2002, Browne was a key participant in the acquisition.

Since taking over as President, Browne has turned the network into the second largest Spanish-language content creator in the world, producing more than 1,000 hours of original prime-time programming a year out of Telemundo Studios’ production centers in Colombia and Miami.

But Browne wanted to do more than just create great programming for Hispanics. He’s also creating great opportunities for Hispanics, and developing great talent. Browne was instrumental in the creation of “Taller Telemundo,” the pioneering educational program aimed at discovering and developing aspiring telenovela writers. The success of the 10-month tuition-free television writing course led to the creation of a Digital Media program and, in 2007, “Taller Telemundo: Actores,” offering a similarly innovative training program for Spanish-language actors.

With that kind of a background and demonstrated dedication to Hispanics, his new bosses at Comcast seemed to have been speaking about him specifically when they announced what went into picking the executives who would run the company’s divisions.

“Our goal has been to find people who have the skill sets we need to succeed and who reflect the values that will be the hallmark of NBC Universal,” Comcast COO Steve Burke said in the announcement, “including teamwork, integrity, creativity and a commitment to treating people the right way.”

Joe Uva has shown similar leadership since stepping in to command Univision. An Italian-American, he barely understood the language, but he understood what was important. As he told Broadcasting & Cable earlier this year:

“The [situations of] Italian immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Hispanic experience today, are culturally similar. The fact is we want to stay connected; we have similar passion points around food and entertainment and music. [Hispanics are] really very aspirational and committed to having successive generations constantly improve. To stereotype them as people not committed to advancing is really woefully misguided and uninformed. They’ve dealt with challenges most of us never had to deal with, and are every bit as American as any of us who were born here.”

Under his direction, Univision has continued to grow while its English-language counterparts have been bleeding viewers, and now has turned its occasional rare wins of the ratings battles into regularly occurring signs of changing times.

And he pulled off a major coup in October, with the network’s extension of its licensing agreement with Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa. The agreement helps bury the hatchet between the two companies and allows the network to continue to broadcast Televisa’s immensely popular content through 2025, not to mention the fact that the deal allows that content to be broadcast on the Internet and to smart phones as well.

Both Browne and Uva face their share of challenges, but it is clear that they are both committed to growing their respective platforms; this in turn helps to grow all other Spanish language offerings which is why this continues to be of the most exciting spaces to be in as we enter 2011 and beyond.

BY JOSE CANCELA
jo**@*********sa.net

Jose Cancela is Principal of Hispanic USA Inc, a Hispanic Market Resource firm. He has also the author of “The Power of Business en Espanol, Seven Fundamental Keys to Unlocking the Potential of the Spanish Language Hispanic Market” Rayo / HarperCollins.