Telemundo-backed cabler mun2 will introduce three original series and produce more than 200 hours of original programming as part of its plan for 2013 and 2014, execs said Tuesday.
The network formed in October 2001 by NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo aims for young Latino millennials.
Billing itself as the “home of Hispanic reality TV,” mun2 has gained some traction with “I Love Jenni,” a series centered around Jenni Rivera, a Latina musician and celebrity who was recently killed in a plane crash. The network is running a final season of the show, focused on the singer’s family.
Also returning are “Larrymania,” the network’s most-watched original series last year, starring regional Mexican musician Larry Hernandez, and “Dub Latino,”a weekly magazine looking at celebrity lifestyles and big names in Latino entertainment.
The network is likely to become more important to Telemundo and NBCU, particularly as Spanish-language TV grows in importance in the U.S. According to the 2010 Census, there were 308.7 million people living in the U.S. on April 1, of which 50.5 million (or 16%) were of Hispanic or Latino origin, up from 35.3 million (13%) of the population in 2000.
Already, rival Univision is partnering with Walt Disney’s ABC to create a news-and-lifestyle network called Fusion aimed at Latinos. Last year, News Corp. launched Spanish-language broadcast network MundoFox.
At a presentation Tuesday for advertisers, Diana Mogollon, general manager of mun2, said the network aims to continue its slate of reality series and had scripted ideas that are “definitely on the back burner” but she hoped to provide more detail about them in 2014.
The network’s new series include “Viva Los Vargas,” set to launch in 2014. The show features two-time world boxing champion Fernando Vargas, facing the challenge of raising a family. “Reinas de Realty,” also set to debut in 2014, is a one-hour series focused on business partners Jackie Mateos and Liz Perez as they attempt to storm the Los Angeles Latino real estate market. “Horoscopos” follows Chicago-based sisters Vicky and Marisol Terrazas, lead singers of the Mexican regional band Horoscopos de Durango.
Executives also announced mun2 would be the exclusive cable home of the U.K.’s Barclays Premiere soccer league this summer.
