U.S. Channel mun2 Rebranding as NBC Universo

LOS ANGELES: mun2, NBCUniversal’s U.S. Hispanic cable network, is set to rebrand as NBC Universo starting February 1, 2015.

That date will also mark the moment the channel becomes the home to the exclusive Spanish-language telecast of Super Bowl XLIX in the U.S. As part of the rebrand, the network will focus on sports content from around the world, partnering with NBC Sports Group and Telemundo to cover four FIFA World Cup events in 2015. NBC Universo will also exclusively showcase the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series and WWE programming such as WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown in Spanish.

The channel will also feature entertainment, music, series and storytelling connected to the U.S. Hispanic market. Specific entertainment programming details will be released early next year.

“Our prominent new name and logo reflect to the world that we are NBCUniversal’s modern general entertainment cable channel for Latinos,” said Rubén Mendiola, the president of mun2. “We will super-serve this community with a universe of exciting viewing options in ways that are compelling and culturally relevant for Latinos. Through this strategy, we are building a high-quality cable TV channel that we believe distributors are ready to embrace, advertisers are ready to support, and viewers will be drawn to.”

“mun2’s transformation into a high-demand cable network is one of our top company priorities,” said Joe Uva, the chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content at NBCUniversal. “Today’s announcement marks another important step in this transformation and, with the support of NBCUniversal, mun2 is now clearly well positioned to better serve its stakeholders across all its platforms. Our commitment to the U.S. Hispanic market is stronger than ever and the relaunch of mun2 as NBC Universo is a direct reflection of that pledge.”