First up, Univision, the dominant Spanish-language broadcast network, on Wednesday will add Univision tlNovelas, the first channel to feature wall-to-wall daily telenovelas, essentially soap operas that run for four to six months. Then:
•Sports network Univision Deportes will premiere in April, featuring plenty of soccer action and its own version of SportsCenter, to rival the existing ESPN Deportes. (Both will air initially on Dish Network.)
•Univision also plans a news network for later this year and is in talks with ABC about a separate joint-venture channel aimed at English-speaking Hispanics.
•News Corp. has announced plans for Spanish-language Mundo Fox this fall.
•And Comcast announced plans Tuesday to carry four minority-backed cable networks, including El Rey, an entertainment channel also aimed at English-speaking Latinos, headed by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) and due by early 2014.
They will join existing bilingual networks such as Comcast's mun2, an offshoot of Telemundo, and MTV's tr3s.
