Telemundo facts for kids
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| Type | Free-to-air television network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Affiliates |
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| Headquarters | Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Spanish |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (re-scaled to 16:9 1080i for some affiliated channels) |
| Timeshift service |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | NBCUniversal (Comcast) |
| Parent | NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises |
| Key people |
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| Sister channels |
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| History | |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Launched | June 19, 1984 |
| Former names | NetSpan (1984–1987) |
Telemundo ( formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network. It provides programming to more than 100 countries in over 35 languages.
The network was founded in 1984 as NetSpan before being renamed Telemundo in 1987. In 1997, Liberty Media and Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired controlling interest in Telemundo. NBC then purchased Telemundo in 2001.
The channel broadcasts programs and original content aimed at Latin American audiences in the United States and worldwide, consisting of telenovelas, sports, reality television, news programming and films—either imported or Spanish-dubbed. In addition, Telemundo operates Universo, a separate channel directed towards young Hispanic audiences; Telemundo Digital Media, which distributes original programming content across mass media, the Telemundo and Universo websites; Puerto Rico free-to-air station WKAQ-TV; and international distribution arm Telemundo Internacional.
Telemundo is headquartered in Miami and operates a studio and productions facility in the Miami suburb of Doral, Florida, and has 1,900 employees worldwide.
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Programming
As of 2015[update], Telemundo operates on a 147½-hour network programming schedule. Its base programming feed provides various types of general entertainment programming weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., Saturdays from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. (the first three hours of which are occupied by the children's programming block, MiTelemundo, which features programs compliant with FCC educational programming requirements), and Sundays from 11:00 to 1:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. A separate block of feature films (and occasionally, other entertainment programs) also airs overnights on Monday through Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00 a.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 3:00 to 5:00 a.m., and weekends from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. All remaining time periods are filled with infomercials.
Many of Telemundo's stations produce their own local programming, usually in the form of newscasts and public affairs programs.
The majority of Telemundo's programming consists of first-run telenovelas and series, many of which are produced by the network itself through its Telemundo Studios unit; however, some shows broadcasts by the network are produced by outside companies (including Caracol Television and Promofilm). Telemundo's schedule does not incorporate situation comedies, although some comedy series have aired on the network in the past, particularly during the 1990s and early 2000s. Variety shows, a common format in Spanish language television in the U.S. and other countries, have had a limited presence on Telemundo's lineup in recent years; with La Voz Kids being the only such show appearing on the network as of July 2013. Two additional variety series debuted in 2015: Si Se Puede, an adaptation of the Armoza Formats celebrity talent competition franchise I Can Do That, and ¡Qué Noche! con Angelica y Raul ("What a Night! with Angelica and Raul"), a family-oriented series using the traditional Saturday evening variety program model that was created to fill part of the void opened up by the cancellation of Univision's Sabado Gigante.
From 2010 to 2013, Telemundo utilized an off-time scheduling format for its prime time programming (similar to the "Turner Time" format used by TBS from 1981 to 2000), in which programs that aired weeknights from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) started on a three-minute delay – resulting from intentional overruns of the network's 7:00 p.m. program (Caso Cerrado: Edićion Estelar ("Case Closed: Special Edition")) into the 8:00 p.m. timeslot. As a result, until this format was discontinued, conventional "top-and-bottom" start times were not restored until the evening's final prime time program aired at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific), allowing late local newscasts seen on some Telemundo stations to start at 11:00 p.m. (or 10:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain Time Zones).
Daytime programming on weekdays features a mix of consisting of repeats of past Telemundo-produced telenovelas and acquired serials (which are re-edited as extended 90-minute and two-hour episodes) during the late morning and early afternoon hours, while newsmagazine, reality and court series (such as Caso Cerrado ("Case Closed") and Suelta La Sopa ("Tell Me What You Know")) making up its afternoon programming. The network also regularly airs Spanish-dubbed English-language films (primarily those produced by American film studios such as Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment) that make up much of the network's weekend afternoon and prime time lineup, as well as films natively produced in Spanish (imported from various Latin American countries) that it usually airs daily during the overnight hours; the network also airs films in place of regularly scheduled programming on select national holidays (such as Thanksgiving and Christmas).
English subtitles
Telemundo provides English subtitles via closed captioning primarily on weekdays from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time, during the network's prime time lineup. The network produces the translations in-house, and intends them to attract Hispanic viewers who may not be fluent in Spanish as well as other non-Spanish speakers. Programs that include English captions are identified on-air by a special digital on-screen graphic seen at the start of each episode, denoting the specific caption channels in which viewers can receive subtitles in either Spanish or English (see right).
Telemundo was the first Spanish-language network in the United States to incorporate English captions during its programming.
News programming
The network operates a news division, Noticias Telemundo ("Telemundo News"), which produces a half-hour early evening flagship newscast, Noticiero Telemundo. It also produces the morning news and lifestyle program Un Nuevo Día ("A New Day"), the late afternoon newsmagazine series Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste ("Red Hot Live with Maria Celeste") and the Sunday morning talk show Enfoque ("In Focus").
Sports
The network also maintains a sports division, Telemundo Deportes. The division produces soccer matches for the network from Liga MX, as well as Olympic qualifying matches. Through broadcasting agreements with NBC Sports, Telemundo also holds the Spanish-language broadcast rights to the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, Spanish play-by-rights to soccer matches from the Premier League and the Spanish-language rights to the NFL primetime game "Sunday Night Football". The network also produces Boxeo Telemundo, a weekly late-night boxing series that airs on most Friday nights (except during the summer) showcasing fights from up-and-coming boxing talents.
In 2014, Deportes Telemundo acquired the Spanish language rights to broadcast the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cup for a reported $600 million.
In addition, the division also produces three weekly sports-related talk and magazine programs for Telemundo.
Children's programming
For much of its history, the bulk of NetSpan/Telemundo's children's programming has been derived of mainly live-action and animated programming from American and international producers, including Spanish-language dubs of programs produced in other languages, and Spanish-language programming acquired from other countries.
The network's first foray into children's programming, Telemuñequitos, was in partnership with Warner Bros., and featured Spanish-language dubs of Warner Bros. Cartoons productions. In September 1995, Telemundo launched a Saturday morning block, Telemundo Infantil ("Telemundo Kids"). On September 15, 1998, Telemundo introduced Nickelodeon en Telemundo, a block featuring Spanish dubs of Nickelodeon programming. The block ran on weekday mornings until September 5, 2000, when it was relegated to Saturday and Sunday mornings in order to accommodate a time slot for Hoy En El Mundo. The Nickelodeon blocks were discontinued after September 30, 2001, ahead of the expiry of Telemundo's program supply deal with Nickelodeon. It was then replaced with Telemundo Kids, which featured a mix of acquired programming from various providers, including Sony Pictures Television and later Nickelodeon.
In September 2006, Telemundo debuted Qubo, a new weekend morning block of educational programming formed as a joint venture between NBC Universal, Ion Media Networks, Corus Entertainment, Scholastic, and Classic Media. The block carried Spanish-language dubs of programming acquired or produced for Qubo's English-language blocks on NBC and Ion, airing on Saturday and Sunday mornings in 90-minute blocks.
On July 7, 2012, after the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, the block was replaced by MiTelemundo; programmed by Sprout, it consisted of Spanish dubbed versions of programs seen on its sister broadcast network's Saturday morning block, NBC Kids, which debuted on the same date. With NBC Kids being replaced with Litton Entertainment's The More You Know block on NBC by September 25, 2016, MiTelemundo initially retained its existing programming until January 6, 2018, when MiTelemundo moved exclusively to Saturday mornings and became programmed by Litton. The relaunched MiTelemundo carries Spanish dubs of programming from The More You Know.
Specials
Telemundo holds the broadcast rights to several annual specials and award show telecasts. From 2003 to 2014, the network held the Spanish language rights to two of the three pageants organized by the Miss Universe Organization: the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, through NBC's existing contractual agreement for the pageant.
Since 1999, Telemundo has served as the official U.S. broadcaster of the Billboard Latin Music Awards ("Premios Billboard a la Música Latina"), an offshoot of the Billboard Music Awards honoring songs from Latin music artists during the previous year that are chosen by viewer voting. In 2012, the network also debuted Premios Tu Mundo ("Your World Awards"), a viewer-decided awards show honoring the achievements of Hispanics and Latinos in media, maintaining a format similar to the People's Choice Awards with categories pertaining to television, film, music, fashion and sports.
In October 2015, through a licensing agreement with Dick Clark Productions signed in July 2014, Telemundo became the originating broadcaster of the Latin American Music Awards ("Premios de la Música Latinoamericana"), a Latin music-focused version of the American Music Awards.
Stations
As of June 2018[update], Telemundo has 28 owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 66 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; this makes Telemundo the largest American Spanish language broadcast television network by total number of affiliates. The network has an estimated national reach of 57.23 percent of all households in the United States (or 178,837,113 Americans with at least one television set).
See also
In Spanish: Telemundo para niños
- Univision
- List of Spanish-language television networks in the United States
- List of United States television networks
