NBCUniversal makes major investment in Telemundo stations

NBCUniversal announced a series of enhancements at its 17 Telemundo stations as a result of a major investment made by the company to better serve Spanish-language viewers in the markets it serves. The investment supports local news expansions, bolsters newsgathering efforts and ensures that each news team has the resources it needs to compete.

 

“The Telemundo Station Group is ushering in a new era of Spanish-language local news,” said Manuel Martinez, President, Telemundo Station Group. “The investment made at our local Telemundo stations, including launching new newscasts, arming our journalists with the best newsgathering tools and adding consumer units charged with fighting for our viewers, speaks clearly about our commitment to better serve our country’s flourishing Hispanic community.”

“We want to be at the forefront of delivering Hispanic-Americans all across the United States the local news, weather and information they want,” said Valari Staab, President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “The strategic investment made at our local Telemundo stations have helped them achieve new levels of success as they provide the high-quality local news and information that Spanish-language viewers have been asking for and deserve.”

As part of the investment, the Telemundo Station Group is debuting a new half-hour early evening newscast to provide viewers with an additional 150 minutes each week of local breaking news coverage and up-to-the-minute weather reports in their respective markets. The new local half-hour news programs will launch in 14 markets at 5:30 PM EST / PST and 4:30 PM CST / MST.

Other enhancements at the Telemundo Station Group over the past year-and-a-half include:

• Adding four new local stations to the Telemundo Station Group, including San Antonio (KVDA), Harlingen (KTLM), Boston (WNEU) and Philadelphia (WWSI);
• Hiring 160 new employees across all 17 stations, primarily in the news departments, to support news and programming expansions. The new hires include reporters, producers and photographers;
• Launching more than 35 hours a week of new local newscasts in seven markets, on top of today’s early evening news launches, including:
• Two-and-a-half hours of weekday news at 5 AM, 6 AM and 10 AM at KSTS in the San Francisco Bay Area;
• Two 30-minute newscasts at 4:30 PM and 10 PM on Saturdays and Sundays on KTAZ in Phoenix and in Tucson on KHRR;
• Two 30-minute weekday newscasts at 6 PM and 11 PM on WWSI in Philadelphia;
• Resuming locally-produced news at KBLR in Las Vegas by producing two 30-minute newscasts weekdays at 6 PM and 11 PM;
• Expanding live news coverage at KTLM in Harlingen by producing two half-hour weekday newscasts at 5 PM and 10 PM and airing two half hours of weekend news at 4:30 PM and 10 PM; and
• Resuming locally-produced weekend newscasts in Puerto Rico on WKAQ by producing two half-hour newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 PM and 10 PM.
• Establishing new consumer investigative units at five Telemundo stations charged with fighting for consumers rights. The new units – known as Telemundo Responde – have collectively produced 444 stories and recovered $478,418 for consumers since their launch earlier this year. Telemundo Responde will expand to five additional markets in 2015;
• Debuting new state-of-the art sets at the Telemundo stations in Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas;
• Rolling out new on-screen graphics and visual designs across all stations starting this month;
• Adding news bureaus in Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Miami, each with correspondents gathering news for the local stations. Each bureau is supporting the stations’ efforts to localize major domestic and international developments by providing the latest news and information from all across the United States and Mexico;
• Purchasing new vehicles and cameras to help stations’ live reporting capabilities;
• Integrating a digital web editor at all Telemundo stations, greatly increasing each station’s digital presence; and
• Working more closely with the NBC stations in markets where NBCUniversal owns both a Telemundo and a NBC station, including sharing content and resources in an effort to better serve viewers. These duopoly markets are located in the following communities: Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area and Philadelphia.

“Spanish language viewers want and need more news, weather and live local programming. We have a responsibility to provide them with the information they need to help them lead better lives,” said Martinez. “This investment has helped our stations better serve their communities and provide the best quality news and information available – whether on television, online or on the go.”