Toronto-based Telelatino Network plans to add to its suite of Spanish-language TV services following CRTC approval of its application for a new national Category B specialty service called Spanish Sports & Entertainment 1.
Offering 90% of its programming in Spanish, the new service will draw programming from several different categories including news, comedy and dramatic series, but will place an emphasis on sports, said Telelatino’s communications manager, Bruna Aloe.
With an estimated 1.5 million Spanish-speakers and one million people of Hispanic heritage in Canada, Aloe said there is a “bright future” for Spanish-language media in the country.
Majority-owned by Corus Entertainment, Telelatino currently operates the Spanish-language services TeleNiños (a children’s channel that debuted in 2011) and the movie channel Cinelatino.
Earlier this year, Telelatino also announced that it had entered into an agreement with Univision Communications, a U.S. leader in Hispanic programming, to rebrand its TLN en Español service as Univision Canada, effective April 28. The service is currently carried in more than 1.7 million homes.
With its planned emphasis on sports—particularly soccer—Aloe called Spanish Sports & Entertainment 1 a “natural evolution” for Telelatino, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
Telelatino Network has not yet made any programming announcements. “With the growth of the Spanish community and its love of sports, we know there’s going to be demand for this channel,” said Aloe. “It’s going to be as well-received, if not more, than the other Spanish channels we’ve already launched.”
While Telelatino has not yet secured carriage for Spanish Sports & Entertainment 1, president Aldo Di Felice told the CRTC in an October 2012 letter that the company has received “serious distributor interest” in the service. Telelatino has 48 months to launch the service.
The CRTC also approved an application by Ethnic Channels Group Limited, which distributes more than 60 television channels in multiple languages, for a new service called Italian TV. The service will devote a minimum of 90% of its schedule to Italian programming.
The CRTC also granted requests by both broadcast groups to carry six minutes per clock hour of local advertising on the new services.
