ESPN Deportes 2008-2009.

At its Upfront ’08 presentation, ESPN’s Spanish-language multimedia brand, ESPN Deportes, announced impressive distribution gains and presented the advertising community with a host of new ideas and creative content demonstrating the network’s commitment to innovative multiplatform programming across its television, radio, online, print and wireless properties. The company’s first-ever televised upfront provided a star-studded guest list, as well as home viewers, the opportunity to experience the power of the ESPN Deportes brand first-hand. The Upfront Presentation, themed “ESPN Deportes Reloaded,” reinforced the company’s multiplatform approach, showcased the television network’s distribution growth and innovative programming initiatives and highlighted the network’s recent addition to Nielsen’s U.S. Hispanic Cable service.

Boxing took center stage at the event held at New York City’s exclusive Gotham Hall. Following the Presentation guests were treated to a special, onsite production of Miércoles de Combate (Wednesday Night Boxing) to mark the return of the sport to ESPN Deportes. Junior-welterweight Luis “Charal” Rodríguez (22-1, 13 KO’s) took on NABF Light Welterweight Champion, Francisco “The Cat” Figueroa, (18-2, 13 KO’s), in a 10-round bout aired tonight on ESPN Deportes and ESPN2 at 9 p.m. ET. In addition, Colombian Grammy winner, Jorge Villamizar (former lead singer of Bacilos), made his solo debut tonight performing “Ninguna” from his most anticipated solo album. Other guests included former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres; Mexican actress Lorena Rojas; Chivas race car driver Antonio Perez; NASCAR race car driver Jesus Hernandez; UFC Champion Roger Huerta; Annia Hatch, Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast; Ana Guevara, Olympic Medal winning sprinter; Puerto Rican boxing veterans Carlos Ortiz and Juan LaPorte; Scott Gomez from the New York Rangers and from team Red Bulls Juan Pablo Angel, Oscar Echeverry, Claudio Reyna, and Dave Van Der Bergh.

Long dedicated to providing the widest variety of sports programming to Hispanic fans in the U.S. through its multi-media properties, ESPN Deportes announced a remarkable increase in distribution over the past year, with the total number of Hispanic households that carry the television network growing to 3.4 million Nielsen Hispanic homes in May 2008. ESPN Deportes is also currently available in digital basic in the top three U.S. Hispanic markets: Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

Thanks to the brand’s strong local ratings, ESPN Deportes recently became nationally rated by The Nielsen Company’s U.S. Hispanic cable service, known as Nielsen Homevideo Index Hispanic (NHIH) Service, which estimates viewing in 12.1 million U.S. Hispanic households. According to Nielsen’s ratings, ESPN Deportes had the five highest-rated sports news and commentary programs on any Spanish-language cable network over the past two weeks (4/28/08 to 5/11/08), as well as fifteen of the top twenty sports news and commentary programs.

“Being rated by Nielsen has been our greatest accomplishment to date and we look forward to showing advertisers the audience that our network can deliver,” said Lino García, General Manager of ESPN Deportes. “ESPN Deportes has reloaded and the brand is reaching more Hispanics than ever before through multiple strong platforms and with refreshed programming initiatives.”

ESPN Deportes Radio, the only around-the-clock national Spanish-language radio network in the U.S. exemplifies the strength of the ESPN Deportes brand. The company’s KWKW affiliate in Los Angeles achieved its highest ratings in the station’s history in the latest Arbitron book (May 2008) and cemented its place as the clear Spanish-language AM leader in its market. Expanding its reach, ESPN Deportes Radio recently launched a new affiliate station in Milwaukee and will soon launch an affiliate in Miami, bringing its reach to 43% of the U.S. Hispanic market. ESPN Deportes Radio now has 26 affiliates nationwide including four of the top ten U.S. Hispanic markets: Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Dallas. The radio network is also available nationally on Sirius Satellite Radio.

ESPN Deportes showed similarly impressive distribution gains through its online assets as ESPNDeportes.com showed an 81% growth in unique users in 2007 and its video download service came out ahead of the competitors’, with fans viewing offerings more than 20 million times-a 150% increase over 2006. The company’s five to eight daily podcasts, too, proved increasingly popular, being downloaded more than 1 million times on iTunes in 2007.

“The growth of each one of ESPN Deportes’ platforms shows the success of the brand in taking a single product and showcasing it in an interactive way throughout all media, facilitating the way in which our audience receives its sports news,” said Jeff Siegel, Senior Vice President of Regional Sales, Direct Response and Emerging Media for ESPN Deportes. “The more platforms we build for Hispanic sports fans, the more they will use them.”

In order to better serve sports fans across the nation, ESPN Deportes also announced its expansion of programming initiatives and current offerings. Newly refreshed programming includes: Dream Job: El Reportero, South American World Cup Qualifiers, Wednesday Night Fights and the critically acclaimed documentary film ‘Chávez.’ ESPN Deportes also announced the expansion of the current offering of SportsCenter and the unveiling of a innovative new talk show.

New Programming Initiatives Announced at the Upfront Include:

Miércoles y Viernes de Combate: Boxing comes home, twice a week with Miércoles and Viernes de Combate. Viernes de Combates will make its debut February 2009 anchored by a brand new studio show that will be aired preceding the weekly telecasts.

South American World Cup Qualifying tournament: Proving that it’s never too early to begin coverage of the most important sporting event in the world – The World Cup – ESPN Deportes will provide television and radio coverage of all 70 remaining matches of the prestigious 2010 South American World Cup Qualifying tournament (SAWCQ) June 2008 through November 2009. The South American World Cup Qualifying, a 10-teams qualifying tournament, will feature Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela as they play each other twice for a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The top four teams from South America will automatically qualify and the fifth place finisher will play the fourth place team from CONCACAF in a two-game playoff for the right to play in South Africa.

Dream Job: El Reportero II: The second installation of reality show Dream Job: El Reportero, the Spanish-language version of ESPN’s popular show Dream Job, will launch in Fall of 2009. Aspiring sports broadcasters in major U.S. Hispanic markets a chance to compete head-to-head for a chance to win a job as a SportsCenter reporter for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The first edition of Dream Job: El Reportero featured six finalists with Mauricio Pedroza of San Luis de Potosi, Mexico winning the challenge. Following his one-year contract with ESPN Deportes, Pedroza was hired full-time by ESPN. He currently serves as a key SportsCenter reporter.

Caribbean Series Baseball: ESPN Deportes and Cultiva Entertainment reached a multi-year agreement in principal that makes ESPN Deportes the home of the Caribbean Series. Under the terms of the agreement, ESPN Deportes will offer exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the six-day tournament beginning with the 2009 edition from Mexicali, Mexico.

Chávez: His name has been chanted across arenas and coliseums, his achievements in the ring are the stuff legends are made of. Julio Cesar Chávez is the greatest sports icon of his generation in Mexico and for the first time a documentary by award winning actor/director Diego Luna of “Y tu mamá también” fame invites us into the world of the living legend. Chávez will premiere on ESPN Deportes in September of 2008 in celebration of Hispanic Heritage. Chávez examines Mexico’s adoration of the iconic fighter through hard hitting interviews with his son and promising fighter Julio César Chávez, Jr., icons of the sport such as Oscar de la Hoya and Mike Tyson and industry journalists. Chávez, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim, was produced by Canana, a film and television production company founded in 2005 by Luna, actor Gael García Bernal and producer Pablo Cruz. The documentary will be presented in its entirety several times during Hispanic Heritage Month. Coinciding with its television debut, Chavez, which runs 78 minutes, will debut on DVD September 23 for the suggested retail price of $24.95 and $14.99 wholesale price.

Rumbo a las Mayores: Chronicles the voyage of a group of Dominican-born aspiring Major Leaguers and their road of breaking into the Majors. The show follows the aspiring major leaguers through tryouts, batting practices, and their day-to-day lives at some of MLB’s most notable baseball academies in the Dominican Republic. Boston Red Sox David Ortiz plays a feature role in the film, lending his perspective on a Dominican who made it big in the Major leagues. Rumbo a las Mayores will premiere this Fall.

Studio shows in Development:

In addition to the new programming initiatives, the company announced various studio shows in development, including:

o An innovative, cutting-edge magazine show modeled after ESPN’s critically acclaimed Around the Horn launching this fall. The 30-minute program will feature sports journalists from the leading Spanish-language newspapers in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Puerto Rico and Mexico as regular guests.

o A sports-talk radio show from ESPN Deportes Radio studios in Miami and simulcast in television on ESPN Deportes. Show debuts this Fall.

Returning Programming:

UEFA Champions League: The best of European club team competition featuring over 90 matches;

NBA: Regular season games, as well as exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the playoffs through to the Conference Finals;

NFL: Exclusive Spanish-language coverage of Monday Night Football, with a weekly report (NFL Esta Noche);

MLB: Exclusive, national Spanish-language coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, a number of holiday games, and the Home Run Derby;

Tennis: Top tournaments including Grand Slam action from Wimbledon and the French Open;

Mexican First Division Soccer: Regular season live Mexican first division soccer;

MLS: Exclusive weekly live Thursday night games;

NASCAR: Exclusive Spanish-language coverage featuring a 17-race Sprint Cup schedule and coverage of the entire Nationwide Series;

Dominoes: Exclusive agreement with the International Domino Federation to telecast the 2008 World Domino Championship at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida July 8 – 12;

Perfiles: A series of half-hour portraits that narrates the lives of the greatest Latino sports stars. The series tells two stories – that of an athlete and the man/woman out of the playing field. Using footage from original interviews, witnesses, historians and biographers tell us about these individuals – who they were, what motivated them, when they came of age, why they were great and often, why they faded;

2008 World Salsa Championship: Set to take place at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, in December of 2008.