History Creator / Telemundo

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, along with rights to UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them. This is already apparent, as Mun2 was re-branded as NBC Universo in February 2015 to tie into the Super Bowl, and Telemundo's sports department was rebooted with closer ties to the English-language NBC Sports division (rather than being quasi-separate).

Telemundo is an U.S. Spanish-language television network. It has historically been a distant second behind the historically dominant Creator/{{Univision}}. It is a sister network to Creator/{{NBC}}, and much like its competitors, airs a mixture of news (local and national), {{Telenovela}}s, sports (especially soccer, of course), and other programs.

Telemundo is another U.S. Spanish-language television network. It has historically been a distant second behind the historically dominant Creator/{{Univision}}. It is a sister network to Creator/{{NBC}}, and much like its competitors, airs a mixture of news (local and national), {{Telenovela}}s, sports (especially soccer, of course), and other programs.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, along with rights to UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them. This is already apparent, as Mun2 was re-branded as NBC Universo in February 2015 to tie into the Super Bowl, and Telemundo's sports department was rebooted as NBC Deportes (which, unlike Deportes Telemundo, is run as a branch of the English-language NBC Sports division rather than quasi-independently)

At the time, Telemundo's national news output was provided by Creator/{{CNN}}. In 1994, Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. The consortium sold Telenoticas to Creator/{{CBS}} in 1996. Unfortunately, the newly re-christened CBS Telenoticas (along with sister network CBS Eye on People) promptly crashed and burned, prompting them to sell it back to Telemundo in 2000 and convert it into a superstation version of WKAQ.

The network had its start in Puerto Rico in March 1954 with the launch of WKAQ-TV 2; the territory's first television station. It was owned by Ángel Ramos, a businessman who also owned the newspaper ''El Mundo'' and the radio station WKAQ (known as ''Radio El Mundo''); keeping with the pattern, the station branded itself as Telemundo. The new channel started off well, thanks to programs from the influential comedian Ramón "Diplo" Rivero (whose show on WKAQ radio was also quite popular at the time).

Telemundo expanded into the mainland in 1987 following acquisitions of WKAQ and several other Spanish stations in New York, San Diego, and Miami by the Reliance Group: they were part-owners of KVEA in Los Angeles, and had formed the competing [=NetSpan=] network. They promptly re-branded all of their stations under the Telemundo brand, and began to sign on other affiliates.

Another thing unique to Telemundo is that many of its stations provide English-language ClosedCaptioning for its primetime programming via the [=CC3=] channel, particularly in an effort to attract those learning Spanish, and those who would like to watch Spanish programming without the language barrier. It's an idea so innovative, that Univision eventually picked up on it too as they tried to expand their audience themselves.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, along with rights to the WorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them. This is already apparent, as Mun2 was re-branded as NBC Universo in February 2015 to tie into the Super Bowl, and Telemundo's sports department was rebooted as NBC Deportes (which, unlike Deportes Telemundo, is run as a branch of the English-language NBC Sports division rather than quasi-independently)

The goal of his replacement, Jim [=McNamara=], was to clean up Tortorici's mess: to better compete against Univision, he shifted the network back to a more "traditional" lineup with a reliance on imported programming. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (pronounced Mun Dos, now known as NBC Universo) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays, extended soccer rights and MusicVideos.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, along with rights to the WorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them. This is already apparent, as Mun2 was re-branded as NBC Universo in February 2015 to tie into the Super Bowl, and Telemundo's sports department was re-branded as NBC Deportes later in May.

In August 1998, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures. The new CEO Peter Tortorici tried to market Telemundo as a Spanish network with the spirit of an English network, by loading up primetime with sitcoms and dramas rather than, ahem, soap operas. Unfortunately, this plunged the network into a DorkAge: Telemundo's already minuscule viewership was even ''worse'', forcing Tortorici to resign only a year after taking the post.

The goal of his replacement, Jim McNamara, was to clean up Tortorici's mess: to better compete against Univision, he shifted the network back to a more "traditional" lineup with a reliance on imported programming. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (pronounced Mun Dos, now known as NBC Universo) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays, extended soccer rights and MusicVideos.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, {{NASCAR}}, along with rights to the WorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them. This is already apparent, as Mun2 was re-branded as NBC Universo in February 2015 to tie into the Super Bowl, and Telemundo's sports department was re-branded as NBC Deportes later in May.

The goal of his replacement, Jim McNamara, was to clean up Tortorici's mess: to better compete against Univision, he shifted the network back to a more "traditional" lineup with a reliance on imported programming. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (pronounced Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays, extended soccer rights and MusicVideos.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, {{NASCAR}}, along with rights to the WorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them.

! Origins

! Becoming a network

! The Sony era

! The NBC era

Another thing unique to Telemundo is that many of its stations provide English-language ClosedCaptioning for its programming via the [=CC3=] channel.


alternate English captioning on many of their stations via the [=CC3=] ClosedCaptioning channel, which Univision eventually picked up as they tried to expand their audience themselves, which is a win-win for those who would like to watch Spanish programming without the language barrier.

With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, {{NASCAR}}, along with rights to the WorldCup beginning in 2018 (much to Univision's consternation), Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them.

Telemundo is another U.S. Spanish-language television network. It has historically been a distant second behind the historically dominant Creator/{{Univision}}. Like other Spanish networks in the U.S., it airs a mixture of news (local and national), {{Telenovela}}s, sports (especially soccer, of course), and other programs. The network had its start in Puerto Rico in March 1954 with the launch of WKAQ-TV 2; the territory's first television station. It was owned by Ángel Ramos, a businessman who also owned the newspaper ''El Mundo'' and the radio station WKAQ (known as ''Radio El Mundo''); keeping with the pattern, the station branded itself as Telemundo. The new channel started off well, thanks to programs from the influential comedian Ramón "Diplo" Rivero (whose show on WKAQ radio was also quite popular at the time).

Telemundo expanded into the mainland in 1987 following acquisitions of WKAQ and several other Spanish stations in New York, San Diego, and Miami by the Reliance Group: they were part-owners of KVEA in Los Angeles, and had formed the competing [=NetSpan=] network. They promptly re-branded all of their stations under the Telemundo brand, and began to sign on other affiliates. By the 1990's, the network had become more established, and put a greater emphasis on producing original telenovelas rather than importing them like Univision did.

Its national news output was provided by Creator/{{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays, extended soccer rights and MusicVideos.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement. After she got ScrewedByTheNetwork, Telemundo even tried having former (and popular) Univision personality Cristina Saralegui host a show in 2011, but it flopped. In December 2012, a new logo was introduced, trying to evoke the concept of duality (a Latino person being a part of U.S. culture, basically). With the Spanish version of NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' coming to the network in the 2014 season, along with getting the 2018 WorldCup, to Univision's consternation, Telemundo is hoping that the NBC template of riding sports rights to ratings success rubs off on them.

Another thing unique to Telemundo is alternate English captioning on many of their stations via the [=CC3=] ClosedCaptioning channel, which Univision eventually picked up as they tried to expand their audience themselves, which is a win-win for those who would like to watch Spanish programming without the language barrier.

Its national news output was provided by Creator/{{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement. After she got ScrewedByTheNetwork, Telemundo even tried having former (and popular) Univision personality Cristina Saralegui host a show in 2011, but it flopped. In December 2012, a new logo was introduced, trying to evoke the concept of duality (a Latino person being a part of U.S. culture, basically).

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun2 (Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun
(Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mun
(Mun Dos) also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mundos also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, Wrestling/{{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision. A second cable network targeted to younger audiences called Mundos also launched around this time, which these days mainly carries reality programming, {{WWE}} replays and MusicVideos.

Its national news output was provided by {{CNN}} until 1994, when Telemundo partnered with several other media companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America. After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned (along with CBS's other cable network Eye on People), then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation version of WKAQ). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement. After she got ScrewedByTheNetwork, Telemundo even tried having former (and popular) Univision personality Cristina Saralegui host a show in 2011, but it flopped. In December 2012, a new logo was introduced, trying to evoke the concept of duality (a Latino person being a part of U.S. culture, basically)

Until 1994, Telemundo's news output consisted of {{CNN}}-produced programs. Telemundo then partnered with a few other companies (including Reuters, the Argentine broadcaster Clarin, and Spain's Antena 3) to launch Telenoticias, a [[TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks news channel]] covering Latin America (After {{CBS}} bought the channel in 1996, it promptly crashed and burned, then Telemundo bought it back and turned it into a superstation). In the late 1990s, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures; among other things, they tried shifting the network to a more "traditional" model (i.e. importing Telenovelas from other Spanish networks) to better compete with Univision.

In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion. NBC, being NBC, continued to make dramatic changes; they opened a new studio in Miami dedicated to producing original Spanish-language productions, began doing more [[InternationalCoproduction International Co-productions]], and also reached output deals with other Spanish broadcasters to export their original programming abroad. NBC also consolidated some of the operations of local Telemundo owned-and-operated stations located in markets with NBC-owned stations too. NBC also added Telemundo to their coverage of the OlympicGames, and experimented with their use of commercial breaks to retain viewers: such as reducing the length of the first break in a program to just 60 seconds, and even airing a youth-oriented novela with only ''one'' commercial break and plenty of ProductPlacement. After she got ScrewedByTheNetwork, Telemundo even tried having former (and popular) Univision personality Cristina Saralegui host a show in 2011, but it flopped. In December 2012, a new logo was introduced, trying to evoke the concept of duality (a Latino person being a part of U.S. culture, basically)

Telemundo is another U.S. Spanish-language television network. When it comes to size, it is a distant second behind the historically dominant Creator/{{Univision}} in comparison. The network had its start in Puerto Rico in March 1954 with the launch of WKAQ-TV 2; the territory's first television station. It was owned by Ángel Ramos, a businessman who also owned the newspaper ''El Mundo'' and the radio station WKAQ (known as ''Radio El Mundo''); keeping with the pattern, the station branded itself as Telemundo. The new channel started off well, thanks to programs from the influential comedian Ramón "Diplo" Rivero (whose show on WKAQ radio was also quite popular at the time).

Telemundo expanded into the mainland in 1987 following acquisitions of WKAQ and several other Spanish stations in New York, San Diego, and Miami by the Reliance Group: they were part-owners of KVEA in Los Angeles, and had formed the competing [=NetSpan=] network. They promptly re-branded them under the Telemundo name, and began to sign on other affiliates. By the 1990's, the network had become more established, and put a greater emphasis on producing original telenovelas rather than importing them like Univision did. Later in the decade, new management stepped to the plate when the network was acquired by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures. In 2002, {{NBC}} purchased Telemundo for $2.7 billion, and still owns the network to this day.