MIAMI & ORLANDO—Hemisphere Media Group and Entravision have announced a partnership to launch WAPA Orlando, a new full power broadcast television station with programming to serve the Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne DMA.

WAPA Orlando started broadcasting on Feb. 4 on Entravision’s WOTF (Channel 26).

WAPA Orlando will be carried by multichannel video programming distributors throughout the Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne region.

Broadcasting programming from WAPA-TV, Puerto Rico’s #1 TV network for 16 consecutive years, the backers of the new station that will be also be customized and programmed for Central Florida’s Latino population, with a particular focus on the region’s large and rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. The Orlando area is now home to the second largest Puerto Rican population in the continental U.S. and has seen sustained population growth over the past decade.

WAPA Orlando will take advantage of WAPA-TV's news and entertainment production infrastructure, which now produces 80 hours per week of original content, and will be the first station specifically serving Orlando’s Puerto Rican community. Its programming will feature news and entertainment produced in WAPA’s Puerto Rico studios, complemented by locally produced newscasts branded NotiCentro Orlando from Entravision’s award-winning news organization.

The station will initially launch with two daily locally-produced newscasts—morning and midday—with plans to expand to evening and late-night editions over time.

The partnership also will also draw on Entravision’s news resources from stations across 24 U.S. markets to drive expanded local news and editorial coverage for WAPA Orlando. This access to Entravision's extensive content and resources will complement WAPA Media’s original programming and journalism, enhancing coverage of issues relevant to Latino communities locally and nationally.

“We are excited to bring WAPA’s world class news and entertainment content and programming expertise to Orlando, which is often referred to as Puerto Rico’s ‘79th municipality’.” said Alan J. Sokol, president and CEO of Hemisphere Media Group. “By combining WAPA’s trusted programming and journalism with Entravision’s broadcast infrastructure and market expertise, we are creating a compelling and completely unique local service custom made for the Orlando Hispanic community.”

“The launch of WAPA Orlando reinforces our commitment to delivering relevant, community-focused media in key Latino markets,” said Jeffery Liberman, president and COO of Entravision.” This strategic collaboration leverages the complementary strengths of trusted brands to better serve our audiences, distributors, and advertisers throughout Central Florida. Our expertise in local media and news programming will be instrumental in driving WAPA Orlando's growth, especially as we develop and manage its new standalone digital platform to connect with the Orlando Latino audience."

Entravision will develop and manage WAPA Orlando’s digital strategy, which includes a rollout of digital platform solutions, including a website. In addition, Entravision will fully handle the sales operations and maintain a dedicated sales team and production staff in the market. As part of its customary service to clients, Entravision will offer creative support, talent-driven integrations, and turn-key video production, alongside traditional commercial and digital buys.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—AccuWeather said Spanish-language broadcaster Entravision Communications has purchased six of its StoryTeller+ Display Systems to enhance its stations’ newscasts.

The StoryTeller+, an all-in-one interactive touchscreen solution, will help Entravision create more interactive content for its viewers, making news broadcasts more engaging, easier to follow and faster to produce and deliver on-air, AccuWeather said. The platform puts everything in one place, allowing producers to easily build and update graphics, videos and other content without juggling multiple tools, the company said.

It will also allow Entravision to simplify how it organizes news content, AccuWeather said.

"We are thrilled to bring more interactivity and motion to our news presentations with the StoryTeller+ Display System,” Entravision Vice President of News Bertha Gonzalez said in a statement. “With it, we can create more dynamic and engaging news stories and save time so we can more efficiently and easily focus on delivering the highest-quality news to our viewers who count on us every day to keep them informed and up to date."

StoryTeller+ also includes granular mapping capabilities that allow broadcasters to zoom in on specific neighborhoods in greater detail than ever before, AccuWeather said. It allows news producers to highlight specific streets, landmarks and local details, delivering a clear and localized understanding of what’s happening around the corner or around the world to viewers, according to the company.

Entravision will use StoryTeller+ during its upcoming election coverage and in future elections, according to AccuWeather. The system will help the broadcaster deliver real-time results in an easy-to-understand format, broken down by county, state or district, the company said.

The system will also let Entravision stations easily access and share news content across the entire group, AccuWeather said, ensuring consistent news delivery and saving time.

“AccuWeather StoryTeller+ Display Systems combine all the most important features to a news team in one place so they are better equipped to quickly present the news with interactive, leading-edge technology that attracts and engages viewers,” AccuWeather GM of Local Media Services Ryan Ayres said. “With StoryTeller+, Entravision can now deliver a more dynamic and engaging news experience that is easy for viewers to follow and understand and keeps them from even thinking about changing the channel.”

For more on AccuWeather’s StoryTeller+ Display System, click here.

SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Entravision has announced a strategic partnership with LATV Networks that will bring to market a connected television (CTV) offering with over 5,000 hours of content targeting the Latino community.

Juan Saldivar, chief digital and strategy officer of Entravision explained that “this new partnership will provide LATV Networks with avenues to expand the distribution of their younger-skewing bilingual content at scale by leveraging our advanced technology infrastructure. At the same time, it further strengthens Entravision’s marketing portfolio of digital and content platforms.”

Entravision will assist and support LATV Networks with the expansion of their content on streaming platforms such as Pluto TV, STIR, VIX and Peacock, among others, the companies said. 

The companies also announced that Entravision and LATV Networks will approach new sales initiatives with customized incentives to provide first-to-market omni-channel offerings as well as open cross-promotion sales and distribution opportunities to advertisers.

In addition, Entravision will help accelerate LATV Networks’ digital growth by providing advanced data technology and multi-channel distribution for LATV Networks’ original content.

"By accelerating the growth of our CTV and digital platforms uniquely emphasizing Latino culture beyond language, this partnership addresses many of the challenges of marketing to our diverse and nuanced culture,” said Andres Palencia, CEO of LATV Networks. “Together, Entravision and LATV Networks will deliver unprecedented value to advertisers looking for innovative and flexible ways to reach Hispanic consumers of all ages, language choices, and media consumption preferences,” 

“The union of Entravision, a proven leader in the Hispanic media market, and LATV Networks, a unique content hub for the Latino community, offers brands even more opportunities to share robust and creative campaigns with their target audiences,” added Chris Munoz, executive vice president of national sales for Entravision. “Marketers are more aggressive now than ever before when it comes to engaging with consumers. As a result, they recognize the importance of delivering their message in precisely the right environment. Our vast portfolio of combined assets will provide our new mutual clients with a variety of innovative solutions that meet their evolving marketing needs.”

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Roku has partnered with Entravision to expand the company’s advertising business to Mexico, where it is the largest TV streaming platform. 

“We are excited to bring our advertising business to Mexico, a market where Roku has already seen great traction and where streaming is becoming mainstream,” said Mirjam Laux, vice president, International Platform at Roku. “Our goal is to help advertisers and content partners invest for a world where all TV and all TV ads will be streamed. We look forward to working directly with brands and content providers to reach even more consumers through TV streaming."

Roku launched its advertising business in 2012 and since then, the company has worked with 90 percent of the top 200 Ad Age brands. In Q3 2021, total monetized video ad impressions nearly doubled year-over-year, driven by strong client acquisition and retention, Roku said. 

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.— Bitcentral has completed centralizing operations for Entravision Communications Corporation with the installation of its Central Control master control and automation system.

The deployment consolidated 22 broadcast facilities with 56 uniquely programmed channels clearing 10 different national networks and it streamlined processes across multiple facilities into one location at Entravision’s main hub in McAllen, Texas.

“Bitcentral’s Central Control solution is just the right fit to help Entravision accomplish its objective to centralize its master control operation to leverage new workflows and improve operational efficiencies,” said Jeffery Liberman, president and chief operating officer at Entravision. “Central Control’s flexibility enables our team to easily manage remote processes from a single location, while still enabling local operations to remain in control of their branding, ad insertion and news content.”

Entravision’s shift to Central Control marks Bitcentral’s largest installation of this product in the United States. “The completion of this installation is a milestone moment for Bitcentral,” noted Fred Fourcher, CEO and founder of Bitcentral. 

With this centralized master control solution, Bitcentral provides Entravision with a flexible and highly automated tool set for its master control operations; baseband and file-based ingest tools; consolidated control and monitoring of all services from a single location; and integration with traffic systems, storage management, and media synchronization. 

To learn more about Central Control visit www.bitcentral.com/. 

SANTA MONICA, Calif.—Entravision and Nielsen have inked a deal for the ratings service to provide comprehensive measurement services to all of the station group’s local TV stations.

Entravision, which operates stations in 22 markets, will rely on Nielsen for local TV ratings, Nielsen Local TV View, audio ratings and digital ad ratings.

The broadcaster is the largest affiliate group for the Univision and UniMás TV networks. It operates 42 Spanish-language stations, including Univision, UniMás and AZA affiliates, as well as 11 English-language stations, including independent and NBC, Fox and CW affiliates.

"As Entravision continues to engage Hispanic and Latino consumers, it is imperative that our television stations are well equipped to provide measurement of Spanish language audiences as we execute our multiplatform strategy," said Karl Meyer, chief revenue officer of Entravision. "Nielsen's ability to measure Spanish-language audiences was a critical factor in this decision, as no other company directly measures over-the-air audiences or has the commitment to full representation of Hispanic viewership."

The broadcaster also credited Nielsen’s efforts to measure audiences in a fragmenting media landscape and its commitment to improving methodology as factors in its decision.

“Nielsen is committed to measuring the total audience and ensuring full viewer representation. Nielsen shares Entravision's dedication to diversity, and has made significant recent investments in the local television business that support this,” said Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Nielsen Local TV Catherine Herkovic.

In October 2019, Nielsen completed an effort to transform its local TV business by combining advanced meter technology, big data and people-powered panels into its service.

More information is available on the Nielsen website. 

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—ION Media today announced its purchase of KMCC-TV in Las Vegas from Entravision Communications Corp. Financial details of the acquisition were not immediately available.

The move adds about 1 million TV households to the broadcaster’s nationwide footprint. The acquisition takes the number of ION Media’s total of full-power stations to 71 in the 62 biggest U.S. markets and means it has 41 owned-and-operated stations in the top 50 markets.

“ION is committed to investing in broadcast television and offering affordable high-quality content to all American households,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman and CEO of ION Media.

“Over-the-air broadcasting has grown to be the primary source of live linear television for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population. We serve this demand by offering ION content via over-the-air broadcast spectrum in high-growth markets like Las Vegas.”

With the purchase, ION’s full-power UHF station holdings cover 1.2 billion MHz-pops and 231 million people across the company, ION Media said.

More information is available on the ION Media website.

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — OTA Broadcasting, the entity co-created by computer magnate Michael Dell—ostensibly to buy TV stations and sell them at auction—is selling two stations in Palm Springs, Calif., to Entravision Communications Corp., the latter announced today.

Entravision said entered into an agreement with OTA Broadcasting to acquire KMIR-TV, the NBC affiliate, and KPSE-LD, the MyNetworkTV affiliate, serving Palm Springs for $21 million.

Entravision is funding the purchase with auction proceeds. Entravision sold four TV stations at auction, according to FCC’s April 4, 2017, winning bid list. WVUN in Hartford, Conn.; KSMS in Monterey, Calif.; WJAL and WMDO-CD in Washington, D.C., were sold for a total of $ 263,592,981. Entravision indicated it had channel-sharing agreements for each of those stations.

It will treat the transaction as a “like-kind exchange” with regard to IRS rules. It estimated the purchase price to be less than 6.5 times expected 2016-17 pro forma cash flow, and expects it to be “immediately free cash-flow accretive.”

Pending customary closing conditions, including Federal Communications Commission consent, the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Walter F. Ulloa, chairman and CEO of Entravision, said, “Palm Springs is a growing and vibrant market that we know very well and have served for more than 20 years. Our existing television and radio assets located in the market have helped us build strong relationships with the Palm Springs community and our local news programming, Noticias Ya, is highly rated.

“We are excited to add KMIR’s impactful and significant local news presence to our portfolio in Palm Springs. This is a strategic transaction that is extremely attractive on a financial basis, allowing us to broaden the services we provide the Palm Springs market and positions us to continue to build on the success of KMIR and KPSE.”

Bill Tolpegin, CEO of OTA Broadcasting, said, “We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of KMIR’s terrific employees during our ownership of the station. We are confident that Entravision will be a great new home for the station and its team, and look forward to following their continued success.”

OTA Broadcasting sold 10 stations in the incentive auction, including eight low-power TV licenses. The stations are in Boston, Charlotte, N.C., New York, Pittsburgh, Providence, R.I.; and San Francisco. OTA made $441 million on the sales and indicated each of the sold stations had channel-sharing agreements. OTA also asked the FCC if it could engage in aftermarket sales to wireless providers once the auction was completed. The commission did not respond.

Entravision currently owns and operates the UniMas and Univision affiliated television stations—KVER-CD, KEVC-CD, and KVES-LD—and 94.7 FM Jose and 103.5 FM Tricolor radio stations—KLOB-FM and KPST-FM—serving the Palm Springs market, which is ranked No. 146 in total population and No. 49 in Hispanic population. Entravision said its Univision affiliate, KVER-TV is the leading station in the market, number one in full week ratings, Mon-Sun 3am-3am among Adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, according to Nielsen numbers from May 2017.