Hidalgo – Executive VP Of Sports @ Telemundo.

Jorge Hidalgo, who has served as Telemundo’s Senior Vice President of Sports for almost three years, has been promoted to the office of Executive Vice President of Sports. The announcement was officially made by Telemundo President and CEO, James McNamara.

“His passion for sports, vision and track record of success make him one of our most valuable executives,” said McNamara. “His contribution has helped position Telemundo as the most innovative U.S. Spanish-language network and the leader in Spanish-language sports.”

Hidalgo spearheads Telemundo’s sports programming development, while supervising the network sports department, all network sports programs and events.

Hidalgo, who joined Telemundo in February 1999 as Vice President of Sports, was promoted to Senior Vice President of Sports in October 2000. Among his major accomplishments, he was responsible for the new multi-annual agreement in which the network has obtained all the rights to air the Mexican Soccer League games. He also secured the exclusive broadcast rights to both the Mexican and United States national soccer teams during their qualifications process for the World Cup 2002. He successfully broke the longtime broadcast rights monopoly in Mexico by securing the rights to two professional league teams in that country, and he was responsible for reuniting the award-winning sportscasting team of Andrés Cantor, Norberto Longo, and Jessi Losada.

Hidalgo is also credited for developing the very successful Titulares Telemundo, a half-hour show offering complete coverage of all major sports; Los Triunfadores, a biographical series on Hispanic sports champions and heroes and, Boxeo Telemundo, a monthly fight night series.

Last year, he acquired the U.S. Hispanic broadcast rights to an exclusive NBA game of the week. This agreement marks the first time a major professional sports league in the U.S. will broadcast its games on a Hispanic network.

Prior to arriving at Telemundo, Hidalgo was Sport Director for Univision Network where he oversaw every aspect of he sports department. Among many career highlights, he served as executive producer and director for the network’s World Cup coverage in 1994 and 1998 and created the award-winning boxing series, “Boxeo Estelar.” His broadcast career began in the early ‘80s as sports cameraman at WLTV in Miami, Florida, and since that time, Hidalgo has been honored with three Emmy Awards out of 14 nominations, and was co-recipient of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award in 1997.