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At
launch, a
diminished Azteca
Shark-bitten
by rivals, it debuts only in L.A.
By Gabriel Spitzer
In the media business, stealth launches occur for all kinds of
reasons.
In some cases, the new
enterprise is wary of being swallowed up by its own hype. In others,
backers hope the launch itself will generate the sort of buzz no PR
campaign could hope to match.
Other stealth launches are driven by pure fizzle.
Such appears to be the case for Azteca
America, the new Spanish-language television network.
A year ago, Azteca was being touted as the next big force in
Hispanic TV, with major coverage of the nation's Spanish-speaking TV
audience.
But when Azteca finally debuted on Saturday, it launched in exactly one
market: Los Angeles.
What gives?
A change in plans, says the company.
"Because
viewership levels are lower in the summer, and because ratings in the
summer are not so meaningful, we decided we?d do a phased rollout that
wouldn?t be so heavily promoted," says Mike Angelos, special
assistant to the CEO of Azteca America.
"That will give us
a chance to test, get feedback, and fine-tune our efforts in preparation
for the fall, when we?ll have November sweeps."
But certainly no less a factor were the crushing
counter-moves by existing players Univision and its smaller but growing
rival, Telemundo.
Azteca America is a joint
venture between Mexican programming giant TV Azteca and the Los
Angeles-based Pappas Telecasting Companies, the largest private owner of
television stations in the U.S.
When the new network was
first trumpeted last fall, Azteca America vowed to be in 45 percent of the
Spanish-language market in the second quarter of 2001 and in 65 percent
by the end of the year.
It was to launch
in at least 14 markets, including Miami, Houston and San Francisco.
But in December, Univision
snapped up 13 major-market stations owned by USA Networks, a
move interpreted by
many as a direct blow to Azteca.
"I don?t want to
say that other networks are cutting them out of deals, but with Univision
closing the USA deal, it seems like it?s going to be difficult for
Azteca America," says one media buyer at an
agency in the South.
"It seems like the other two players are doing what they
can to make sure this doesn?t happen."
Azteca America also
bowed out of a deal to buy New York?s WSAH last fall.
The most recent blow
came last month, when a deal to purchase KXTX in Dallas fell through. Soon
after, Telemundo swooped in and bought the station for a reported $65
million.
The moves have
understandably made Azteca America rather tight-lipped about its future
plans.
"We?re
keeping things a little closer to the vest. A lot of our announcements
have been greeted with countermoves by our competitors. So we?ve decided
to start announcing things after they occur," says Angelos.
"Univision
bought the USA station group right after we announced our business plan.
The mere fact that we had announced our business plan caused our
competition to reassess their plans. I think we?re better off not giving
the competition any more heads-up about what we plan to do."
That being the
case, Azteca America declined to say which stations it is pursuing. Pappas
owns and operates 18 television stations across the country, including
KAZA-TV, the Los Angeles station that is now the lone carrier of Azteca
America programming.
The network confirms
that some of its stations are targeted for a switchover, but would not say
which. Likely candidates seem to be KTNC and/or KFWU in San Francisco,
KMPH and/or KFRE in Fresno, KBFX in Bakersfield, Calif. and KSWT in Yuma,
Ariz.
Meanwhile, they?ll
be facing even more competition for stations from the fledgling Hispanic
Television Network and from Univision?s forthcoming second network, set
to launch this January.
Some buyers have
already written off Azteca America?s chances for the foreseeable future.
"We?ve almost
taken them off the board as a viable network. We?re not really
considering them right now, at least for this year," says the buyer
at the southern agency.
"We were a little
disappointed. When they first came out they had all these plans for where
they?d be in two months and in three months. And now that they?re
actually out there it?s completely opposite of what we thought."
On the plus side,
new census figures showing the surprising population growth of Hispanic
Americans should funnel more ad money into Spanish-language media.
"The 2000
census is bringing a lot more advertisers into the marketplace. It was a
bit too late for this year, but my thought is that 2002 will be a pretty
good year," says Cindy Gough, senior partner and director of Hispanic
marketing at Mindshare.
"It?s always been
a tough sell to go into general-market advertisers and convince them to
advertise in Spanish. Now we don?t have to bang on the doors as
hard."
Azteca America already
has one national sponsor, Miller beer, and expects to announce more soon.
Mindshare?s Gough
estimates that Azteca America will have to be in the top 10 or 15 Hispanic
markets before the network is considered for large national buys. But in
the short term, that actually may not be much of a handicap.
"A lot of
clients want to come in and do a test market, or try two or three markets.
So typically they probably wouldn?t jump right in with a network
buy," Gough says.
July 31, 2001 ? 2001 Media Life
-Gabriel Spitzer is a staff writer for
Media Life.
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