Spanish Language Sweeps Up In NYC.

The May 2001 sweep provided cause for celebration for Gotham’s Spanish-language broadcasters. Overall, Spanish-language TV viewing in the New York market is up 18% for the just completed sweep period (April 25 – May 23) compared to the similar period last year, according to Nielsen Station Index household ratings for the sign-on to sign-off (7 days a week, 6 am to 2 am) measurement.

Notable among the increases in Spanish-language TV viewing is a 50 percent jump for the 11 pm news (“Noticias 41”) on Univision 41 (WXTV) here. The newscast, with anchors Rafael Pineda and Denisse Oller, soared to a 2.1 rating and 4 share from 1.4/3 a year ago.

Univision 41 also finished fourth of ten New York TV stations in the hotly contested prime- time access period (weekdays 7 pm to 8 pm) with “Carita de Angel” (Little Angel Face). The novela scored 3.4/6 beating CBS, Fox, and UPN stations in the time period.

In the breakfast show race Univision’s “Despierta America” (Wake Up, America) seen locally from 7 am to 10 am surged 25% in the Nielsen Station Index household ratings to score 1.0/3, beating the CBS “Early Show” with Bryant Gumbel. The latter scored 0.8/3 from 7 am to 9 am on WCBS-TV Channel 2.

Each New York Nielsen Station Index rating point represents 69,356.1 TV households.