Most Americans who watch television on a regular basis are familiar with the following scenario: you're surfing through the channels, trying to find something even moderately entertaining to watch, and you stop the remote on a familiar Hollywood movie. You happen to tune in during a scene with little dialogue - maybe there's a fight in progress, maybe an emotionally poignant (but inarticulate) moment, or maybe a great white shark is threatening to chomp Richard Dreyfuss' whiny ass. You watch for a couple minutes, remembering the handful of other times you've seen the film, reminding yourself of the plot so that you can pick it up in the middle. Then, after you've already mentally immersed yourself in the flick, the protagonist finally speaks. And his voice has unexpectedly been dubbed over in Spanish.
Chances are, you're watching Telemundo.
Telemundo (which translates roughly to "Teleworld") is the second-largest American television network that broadcasts programming entirely in Spanish. As Hispanics are currently the fastest-growing minority population in the United States, it is hardly surprising that Telemundo is also one of the fastest-growing television networks overall (Telemundo executives seem to comfort themselves with this statistic to downplay the fact that their biggest competitor, Univision, is much more successful). The channel is carried by most major cable and satellite companies, and currently reaches 90% of Hispanic households in the US. If you know Spanish as a second language, watching Telemundo is also an excellent way to keep your language skills sharp.
Programming
Telemundo does purchase the rights to air Hollywood movies using dubbed dialogue (and one night, I really did spend ten minutes watching Jaws, thinking it was in English, before I heard "¡Necesitaremos un barco más grande!"). However, most of their shows are either original Spanish language programs produced in the good old los Estados Unidos, or more commonly, syndicated shows shot in Latin America or Europe. As with any television network, there is a fair amount of rotation in the schedule from season to season (and sometimes from month to month), so I won't bother going into excruciating detail on Telemundo's current lineup. It is a reasonably safe assumption to state that most of their programs fall into one of four categories: talk shows, variety shows, soap operas, and everything else.
Talk Shows
In the last 15 years, the talk show format has proliferated in American television to such a wildly popular extent that it has crossed the language barrier to become a staple of Spanish television as well (this crossover is apparent from the fact that in Spanish, it is still called a "talk show," an English term that has been appropriated without translation). Much like American talk shows, the Spanish versions come in two basic formats. First, you have the talk shows similar to Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, and so on - one host with a panel of guests, usually ordinary people, talking about their problems. Then, there are the shows similar to morning talk shows like The Today Show in the US - two or three hosts exchanging banter, talking about the daily news, and occasionally bringing out celebrity guests.
Telemundo's talk show lineup is in a constant state of flux, mainly because the competing Univision already has a lock on this part of the market with shows like Cristína (the Latina answer to Jenny Jones and Oprah Winfrey all rolled into one really bad blond dye job) and El Gordo y La Flaca (similar to the American Regis and What's-Her-Name. El Gordo y La Flaca translates literally to "the fat guy and the skinny lady," and is hosted, shockingly, by a fat guy and a skinny lady). Every season, Telemundo introduces several new talk shows, but has yet to knock Univision from its reigning position as the champ of this format.
Variety Shows
Variety shows are making a bit of a comeback amongst English-speaking viewers, but as far as Hispanic television is concerned, the variety show never fell out of favor in the first place. The long-running show Sábado Gigante ("Gigantic Saturday") is the best-known example of this format, a combination of a variety show and game show (interestingly, Sábado Gigante is actually an Univision program, although Telemundo sometimes airs syndicated reruns. It appears that Univision programming has much more appeal for mainstream English-speaking audiences).
In many respects, Spanish variety shows are pretty much what you'd expect - guests singing, dancing, doing stupid human tricks, performing a few comedic skits, but mostly singing and dancing. The biggest differences between English and Spanish variety shows are length (it is not unusual for a Spanish variety show to run for several hours) and increased cleavage (Hispanic television shows an unbelievable amount of boobies). Closely related to the variety show is Telemundo's popular program ¡Ay Carumba!, a hodgepodge of sketch comedy, Candid Camera-type pranks, and home videos sent in by viewers.
Soap Operas
On Telemundo and other Spanish channels, the most popular programs by far are the soaps, or telenovelas, which are aired not only during the day, but also during prime time. American soap operas have been quite rightfully accused of being melodramatic, poorly written, badly acted, and just generally over the top. The telenovelas take the aforementioned qualities and amplify them tenfold, making them some of the most entertaining shows on Telemundo (although more for the inadvertent comedic properties than anything else).
The basic storylines of the Spanish soaps are almost always the same. They invariably revolve around one protagonist (unlike the American soap operas, which are often ensemble pieces). If the protagonist is a man, then he is muscular, handsome, and brave, but melts into a little puddle when his heart is stolen by a beautiful woman. On the other hand, if the show centers on a heroine, she is beautiful, strong-minded, yet tragically vulnerable, and in dire need of having a handsome hero sweep her off her feet. One amusing side effect of the telenovelas is that they're easier for a native English speaker to follow. Because the acting is so bad, the non-verbal cues are wildly exaggerated, making it easy to understand what's going on, even if you can only catch the gist of the actors' words.
Everything Else
Of the remaining programming, sports coverage is the most popular (usually fútbol). There's also the news, or las noticias, which mainly reports events in the Spanish-speaking world (i.e. South America, Central America, Mexico, and Spain), but often carries stories from the US and elsewhere that are of particular interest to Hispanic viewers.
A recent trend in Telemundo programming, borrowed once again from American television, is court TV (the concept, not the channel). Currently, there's La Corte del Pueblo (a Spanish version of People's Court) and La Corte de la Familia (Family Court). Telemundo's programming is rounded out with dubbed versions of American shows. Cartoons are a favorite in this regard.
Corporate History
Telemundo was first created in 1987. In the beginning, the network was a handful of UHF television stations located in the US (mostly in Florida, California, and Texas) and Puerto Rico, although they soon branched out to cable. At the time, Telemundo's programming consisted almost entirely of aged English-language shows that had been dubbed over in Spanish (Charlie's Angels being a prime example). Telemundo was too small and ill-equipped to effectively rival the media giant Univision, and the network declared bankruptcy in 1994.
Just when it appeared that Telemundo had met a quite timely demise, Sony Pictures and Liberty Media stepped up to the plate, handing over a mind-boggling $537 million to acquire the ailing network. Sony recognized that Telemundo's programming was ridiculously outdated, and revamped Telemundo's lineup to include both original Spanish-language programs and dubbed versions of big budget Hollywood movies (Sony also owns Columbia Tristar Pictures, which provided over 3,000 titles for Telemundo's use). The idea behind this move was to attract younger, bicultural viewers, who would likely spend prime time flipping between English and Spanish television shows. This decision proved to be disastrous, as Telemundo lost 20% of its viewers in the first year after the Sony acquisition, while Univision's revenue increased 25.5%.
Telemundo, which had not turned a profit since its inception, used Sony money to chug along uneventfully until 1999. That year, the network underwent some major changes at the executive level, including the appointment of Jim McNamara as CEO in July 1999. The bilingual McNamara, previously the CEO of New World Entertainment, is credited with single-handedly turning Telemundo's lackluster fortunes around. He initiated changes in Telemundo's programming, providing a better balance between original shows, syndicated imports, and dubbed programming. He also aggressively marketed Telemundo to advertisers, proclaiming the potential of the largely untapped Hispanic audience. Finally, McNamara recognized that, as a single channel, Telemundo had little hope of stealing a significant portion of the coveted 18-to-49 year old demographic from Univision. Thus, in 2001, Telemundo Communications Group launched two spinoff channels: mun2, an entertainment channel (it's sort of like a combination of E! and MTV), and Telemundo Internacional, a Hispanic news network.
Officially, the new mission of Telemundo is to "inspire and excite Hispanic American viewers by broadcasting unique, entertaining and informative programming" (Telemundo's corporate-speak, for whatever reason, also includes numerous uses of the word "vibrant" - the audiences are vibrant, the programming is vibrant, the advertising is vibrant, and so on). However, a quick visit to their website shows that, more than anything else, the executives at Telemundo speak the language of money - it's all about grabbing the largest market share possible. Their website is replete with talk of demographics and Hispanic purchasing power.
Advertising on Telemundo is becoming increasingly competitive. There are some commercials which are simply dubbed versions of English ads, but more often, large American corporations (e.g. McDonald's, Burger King, GMC, Chevrolet, Sears Roebuck) have produced entirely different ads for the Hispanic market. The differences between English and Spanish advertising are interesting. While much of American advertising targets the individual, almost all Hispanic advertising targets the family, based on the premise that Hispanic viewers hold family values much more dear than English-speaking Americans. Telemundo also airs a fair amount of local advertising. These ads are perhaps a sad testament to the Hispanic population's status in the US - almost all of them advertise either the services of lawyers, "Learn English at home" programs, or used car dealerships that promise to ask no questions regarding credit history.
Apparently, the potential for growth in Hispanic advertising attracted the attention of American television executives. In April 2002, after six months of negotiations, NBC purchased the Telemundo Communications Group for an unprecedented sum of $2.7 billion ($2 billion for the actual acquisition, and $700 million to pay off Telemundo's existing debt). For now, the executive structure of Telemundo remains largely intact, and the network retains their headquarters in Hialeah, Florida. However, it appears that this arrangement will be changing, as NBC has announced plans to fully integrate Telemundo into the existing network power structure.
The most visible effect of the acquisition is that Telemundo now airs NBA games with Spanish-speaking commentators. Strangely, dubbed NBC programs have yet to appear in the Telemundo lineup. This may be due to NBC's strength in sitcoms (crossing the cultural humor barrier involves much more than simple language translation). The decision not to air NBC programming may also be influenced by the fact that NBC's hit dramas revolve around the American police and the US federal government, two institutions that historically have been less than friendly to Hispanic immigrants.
Sources:
http://www.telemundo.com
http://www.fcc.gov/transaction/nbc-telemundo.html
http://www.latnn.com/2001/October/Other_Info-PR1090.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/intl/article/0,9171,1107990329-22854,00.html
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