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United States: MundoFox, More of the Same?

Categories: North America, U.S.A., Citizen Media, Media & Journalism, Migration & Immigration

On 13 August 2012 a new TV channel MundoFox [1] [es] will officially begin broadcasting, becoming the fifth channel to join others such as Univisión, Telemundo, Telefutura and Azteca América in transmitting Hispanic content in the United States.  MundoFox is the result of a collaboration between Fox International Channels and the Columbian channel RCN Televisión.  The channel's launch was announced earlier this year on 23 January and its broadcasts will reach 70% of Hispanic homes in the USA.

Through the finalization of its affiliation process with local stations, MundoFox will enter the much desired Hispanic market in the United States, made up of 50 million residents and valued at $3.6 billion.  However, before the launching of this new station, there had been questions regarding the need for another Hispanic television channel.  The main question is whether the channel would improve the quality of Hispanic television broadcasting or whether its launch is solely to serve as a way for the founder of News Corporation and Fox International Channels, Rupert Murdoch, to clean-up his image after the telephone hacking scandal in Great Britain.

Although some experts in the market trust MundoFox to be an alternative in Latin television content, others are not convinced – as shown by the post published in the blog Juan of Words [2]:

I have to say, after reading about the “new” programming MundoFox will be offering, next month,  I’m not really impressed…Eventually, network execs say, the plan is to produce original content straight from Colombia, using RCN’s existing studio and production resources.  That’s probably when we’ll see any real competition from MundoFox.

Some Twitter users dared to suggest a conspiracy against Hispanics, such as Jerry Brant:

@MeetJerryBrant [3]: Fox is coming out with a Spanish Language channel, Mundo Fox. I think this is a plot by Fox to turn immigrants against themselves.

Jenny Andrea blames RCN and their partnership with Fox for the sacking of journalists:

@JenAnAguirre [4]: RCN boasts about the partnership that brought about MundoFox, which some do not know has caused lots of journalists from NTN24 (Nuestra Telenoticias [5] ) [es] to lose their jobs

Meanwhile, other Twitter users are happy to see new content in Spanish, like Verónica Pérez:

@Veronikpm [6]: Fox and RCN Televisión launch Mundo Fox, a channel aimed for the Hispanic community in the US.  Yes, RCN do produce quality.