Tag: Television

COMCAST ANNOUNCES AGREEMENTS WITH TWO NEW HISPANIC AMERICAN-OWNED INDEPENDENT NETWORKS

Primo TV and Kids Central Will Launch on Comcast’s Xfinity TV in January 2017

Prepare to watch television programming filled with options catering to the bicultural Hispanic community. The networks, Kids Central and Primo TV will focus on two different age groups featuring education and entertainment based programming appealing to bicultural Latino families in January 2017 through Comcast Cable.

Comcast Corporation announced it has selected two new Hispanic American-owned independent networks to be broadly distributed on Comcast Cable systems beginning in January 2017.  After a thorough evaluation of dozens of proposals, Comcast selected Primo TV and Kids Central, both of which will provide quality family programming targeted to bicultural Hispanic youth.

“Kids Central and Primo TV’s unique focus on young bicultural Hispanics fill an unmet need in youth-oriented programming and further demonstrate our commitment to providing the best experience for bicultural Hispanic families,” said Javier Garcia, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Multicultural Services at Comcast Cable. “We believe that these networks will provide high-quality educational and entertaining content while infusing Latino culture into the experience.”

Kids Central is an English-language network consisting of age-appropriate programming with high educational value and entertainment standards that appeals to bicultural Hispanic viewers ages 3-7.  In primetime, the network expands its audience with a block of family-oriented programming targeted to the whole family.  Kids Central will provide both English and Spanish language video on demand content. Kids Central is owned and operated by Condista Networks.

“We are proud to work with Comcast to bring this network to viewers,” said Jorge Fiterre, President of Condista Networks.  “Kids Central offers a new option for both English and Spanish speaking children and their families.”

Primo TV is an English-language network that will appeal to bicultural Hispanic viewers ages 6-16 and consisting of age-appropriate programming with high educational value and entertainment standards. Primo TV will build off the proven track record of V-Me and V-Me Kids with diverse content such as animated series, adventure programming and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Awareness that will connect US Hispanics with their cultural roots.  The network will also provide several video on demand content options. Primo TV is owed by V-Me Media, Inc.

“We’re excited to launch Primo TV on Comcast,” said Victor X. Cerda, Senior Vice President at V-Me Media, Inc.  “Primo TV supports V-Me Media’s mission to provide empowering content to the next wave of Hispanic and bicultural youth.  V-Me also applauds Comcast for supporting a Hispanic-owned network in reaching a growing population with content that positively reflects U.S. Hispanic values on screen.”

To narrow down the proposals received, the main criteria Comcast considered were: the content of the network; whether the network is fully financed; whether the networks’ ownership and/or management group(s) are well established, have relevant experience, and are substantially owned by Hispanic Americans; whether the network has launched and has existing or potential multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) distribution; price; and whether the network and its potential carriage provide value to Comcast and its customers.

Comcast carries over 160 independent networks, including many small, diverse, and international networks.  In 2011, as part of Comcast’s commitments made in connection with the NBCUniversal transaction, Comcast agreed to launch 10 new independently owned and operated networks by 2019, eight of which will be minority-owned.  Five networks have already launched, including El Rey (2013) and BabyFirst Americas (2012), which are primarily Hispanic American owned and operated; REVOLT (2013) and  ASPiRE (2012), which are majority African American owned; and BBC World News (2011).  Kids Central and Primo TV will be the next two networks to launch as part of this commitment.