Univision Deportes Network to launch on Saturday April 7

The slogan for Univision Deportes Network is:

Cambió el juego

(The game has changed.)

The "game" that has definitely changed is the U.S. Hispanic sports TV industry.

FOX Deportes has been around since November 1, 1993 (then known as La Cadena Deportiva Prime Ticket.) After 18 years of operation, FOX Deportes peaked out at 18 million U.S. TV households and about $54 million in annual subscriber fees (as of December 2011) before DIRECTV booted FOX Deportes off the English-language sports tier, presumably because FOX Deportes did not have enough exclusive live events (Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana) that appeal to English-speaking viewers.

(DIRECTV essentially swapped Universal Sports Network for FOX Deportes.)

When Univision Deportes Network signs on, it will earn more than double the annual subscriber fees compared to FOX Deportes, based on a single carriage contract with DISH which places Univision Deportes Network on an English-language expanded basic tier: America's Top 200 (which was known as America's Top 100 when DISH launched in 1996.)

If Univision Deportes Network were to achieve "full distribution", it will earn more in annual subscriber fees than NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network COMBINED, and it will earn roughly the same amount in annual subscriber fees compared to BTN and the Pac 12 Networks combined.

Univision Deportes Network took a swing at the U.S. media rights to La Liga and missed not because its bid wasn't competitive against the incumbent (GOLTV-ESPN Deportes,) but because the Emir of Qatar was willing to throw around "petro currency" in order to "own" the U.S, media rights to the top "global brands".

(No doubt in anyone's mind that the Emir of Qatar wants media rights to EPL and UEFA Champions League in the U.S. FOX knows this.)

One would expect Univision Deportes Network to take a shot at the U.S. media rights at the English Premier League, possibly as the 3rd partner with the incumbent FOX-ESPN alliance, but only on the condition and FOX (and ESPN) were willing to give up "1st pick in Spanish" for all 38 weeks.

 

Cpt_K is like at lot of English-language newspaper editors and some lazy TV executives: not only are they resistant to change, they are ignorant of change.

Cable TV outfits that serve resort towns such as Vail and Aspen, as well as areas with meat and poultry-processing plants (in Arkansas, Nebraska, among other places) are now being put behind the 8-ball by Univision because Univision will use its clout and the threat of putting billboards around town (in Spanish) to steer customers toward DISH if the cable TV companies don't want to play by Univision's rules.

Univision is the Hispanic equivalent of Disney/ESPN (and NewsCorp/FOX to a lesser extent): it knows how to throw its weight around. Even those who hate the way these companies conduct business (and there are millions of haters out there) have to respect them.

 

Photo of the new set of Univision Deportes Extra (UDX) courtesy Univision Deportes SVP of Production David Neal:



UDX will compete against Central FOX (FOX Deportes) and SportsCenter (ESPN Deportes)

The executive in charge of UDX is Univision Deportes EVP of News Sharon van Zwieten, whose last position was at ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) in Singapore. SVZ was credited with launching SportsCenter Malaysia on ESPN Malaysia. SVZ was also the executive who was given the task of shutting down SportsCenter Malaysia and firing everyone she had originally hired.

 

Univision Deportes Network will launch early on Saturday April 7 with an added event:

3pm ET - MLS - Columbus vs NY Red Bulls

That match was moved from Galavision.

(Galavision got San Luis vs Jaguares at 7:55pm ET instead after a late schedule change by the FMF.)

Can't imagine Don Garber is happy right now to see his product buried on a channel that will only reach 12 million households, with less than 1 week notice.

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Saturday's partial grid for Univision Deportes Network

3pm ET - MLS - Columbus vs NY Red Bulls

5pm ET - ?

6pm ET - ?

7pm ET - ?

7:55pm ET - Liga Mexicana - Santos vs Estudiantes Tecos

(Overflow match - San Luis vs Jaguares will be on Galavision.)

9:55pm ET - Liga Mexicana - Monterrey vs Tigres

11:59pm ET - UDX

 

Not cheap. Univision wants $1/month for each subscriber and wants placement of Univision Deportes Network in English-language expanded basic tier.

Pay TV outfits all want to play chicken with each other. They want to put the other side to the test: for how long is each side willing to bleed?

 

FOX Sports Ohio and MSG, according to MLSsoccer.ocm

At this point, I would not be surprised if MLS has already given up on the final 3 years of its deal with Univision Deportes (with matches buried on Galavision or Univision Deportes Network), knowing that the "Tier 1S" matches will probably shift over to mun2 in 2015.

MLSLive.tv is supposed to black out this match in the U.S. to protect Univision Deportes Network.

This match will NOT be part of Direct Kick.

 

The cast of UDX was announced over the weekend.

Some familiar names on the list, especially the 3 chicas:

Antonietta Collins - that name may look familiar because she is the daughter of Mexican newscaster Maria Antonieta Collins, who anchored Noticiero Univision on weekends several years ago (the elder Collins will be one of the anchors on Univision Noticias 24/7...amazing how plastic surgery can keep a 50-year-old female on camera.) The younger Collins was the sports anchor at Univision 23 in Dallas before being hired to anchor UDX. She played on the Mexican U-19 women's soccer team (under the name Antonietta Gonzalez) and she attended Mount Union College in Ohio (which is better known for Division III American Football with 9 victories since 1993 and 7 consecutive appearances since 2005 in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.) Believe it on not, the elder Collins were the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony of the younger Collins in 2007.

http://www.mountunion.edu/past-speakers

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni1sHkMftXU"]Antonietta Collins - YouTube[/ame]


Lindsay Casinelli - reporter for Univision 41 in New York. Another stereotypical Latina sportscaster who will show plenty of skin on camera (search YouTube for her video clips and see for yourself.)

Claudia Trejos - Colombian sportscaster who has worked in the U.S. in both English and Spanish. Some of you may remember her from the early days of FOX Sports Americas in 1996-1997. She jumped over to the English-language market about 10 years ago when she was the weekend sports anchor and sports reporter for KTLA 5 in Los Angeles. She didn't last too long at KTLA due to viewer complaints about the quality of her work (to say she was awful would be an understatement. Those who subscribed to DISH Network's superstation pack about 10 years ago would have remembered some of her work at KTLA: she would lose her place on her script way too often.) She moved to ESPN Deportes in 2004 before jumping to Univision a few months ago. She current anchors Contacto Deportivo on TeleFutura.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sj1lQHh41U"]Claudia Trejos & Lindsay Casinelli - YouTube[/ame]

 

Correct.

Crew vs Red Bulls will be on Univision Deportes Network, as well as both FOX Sports Ohio and MSG locally.

Not available on MLS Direct Kick of MLSLive.tv (U.S.)

 

823 on DISH. HD from launch.

 

More quick math:

U.S. media rights to Mexican League clubs except Chivas and Club America are worth around $8 million/year for each team

Univision has the rights to 12 teams including Club America.

11 "small" teams x $8 million/year/team = $88 million

The U.S. rights to Club America home games is worth around $50 million/year.

Univision also pays MLS about $2 million/year.

That means Univision pays about $140 million/year in rights fee for Liga Mexicana and MLS combined.

The one carriage contract from DISH for Univision Deportes Network will bring in over $100 million/year in subscriber fees before any advertising is sold:

$1 subscriber/month x 9 months x 12 million subscribers (estimated) with "Top 200" tier or above (or DISH Latino and above) = $108 million

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Basically, Univision has shifted the economic burden of the U.S. rights to home matches of 12 Liga Mexicana teams from its sales force to the viewers.

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Telemundo will have its hands full when the rights to Chivas Guadalajara home games are up for renewal at the end of the 2012-2013 season.

One would have to expect Chivas Guadalajara to set the minimum bid for the next cycle of U.S. media rights at $100 million/year.