V-me

World Screen Weekly, January 3, 2008

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: March 5, 2007

OWNERSHIP: V-me Media, Inc.

DISTRIBUTION: V-me reaches more than 36 million homes. It is presented by public television stations and is carried on basic digital cable in many cities across the country, as well as on the satellite platforms DIRECTV and DISH Network.

DESCRIPTION: V-me targets U.S. Hispanic audiences with Spanish-language content from a variety of genres, including kids, lifestyle, nature, science, history, current affairs, music, arts and movies. It reaches one third of all U.S. Hispanic TV households.

FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Mario Baeza

PRESIDENT: Carmen DiRienzo

CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER & SENIOR VP: Guillermo Sierra

CHIEF MARKETING AND BRANDING OFFICER

& SENIOR VP: John Begert

SENIOR VP, SPONSORSHIP & SALES: Michael Ginn

VP, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS & DEVELOPMENT: Ida Castro

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: There was plenty of activity in the U.S. Hispanic media market in 2007 as broadcasters continued their efforts to tap into this coveted demographic. Among the new entrants on the scene last year was V-me, which is differentiating itself from many competitors by offering up a slate of Spanish-language lifestyle and factual content, kids’ fare and feature films.

In addition to cable and satellite coverage, the 24-hour network is presented by public-broadcast stations across the country. As such, “educational fundamentals are an important part of what we want to be able to present,” says Carmen DiRienzo, V-me’s president. “We want to continue the tradition that public television is so respected for. When we did the research for this network, we talked to so many people, first- through fifth-generation Hispanics across the country. A lot of what we heard, in addition to this huge cry for kids’ programming, was the desire for more programming that respects our intelligence.”

Kids’ fare dominates the morning schedule following Aire Yoga, one of V-me’s original productions, which is a daily yoga program shot in Miami. The five-hour children’s programming block features titles from leading suppliers like HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop. Among the shows on the schedule are Lunar Jim, Plazo S�samo, Franny’s Feet and Connie the Cow. More preschool programming is high up on DiRienzo’s wish list. “We’re always looking for kids’ programming with sound educational fundamentals,” she says.

The schedule transitions into its afternoon lifestyle and entertainment fare with the parenting series Los ni�os en su casa. The key daytime programming for V-me also includes a block from the Food Network featuring two shows originally produced in Spanish, M�s sabor en menos tiempo (More Flavor in Less Time) and Nuestra cocina (Our Kitchen). V-me also airs adaptations of Food Network hits like $40 a Day and 30 Minute Meals.

Travel is also key to the afternoon schedule, with series like Visions/Una Mirada a�, which are “high-definition travelogues,” DiRienzo notes, and Rock Road, covering music festivals worldwide.

The broadcaster’s prime-time schedule is mostly factual, DiRienzo says, featuring adaptations of key PBS series, among them Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. The V-me version, Creencias, has a Spanish-language host, journalist Marlene Fern�ndez. “It makes the focus of the program more relevant but still takes advantage of the high quality and integrity with which the documentaries are prepared,” DiRienzo explains.

The anchor of the prime-time schedule is V-me’s flagship original series, Viva Vos, which DiRienzo describes as a “nightly hourly conversation with newsmakers from across the spectrum.” A recent episode, broadcast in December, covered the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Viva Vos is also central to V-me’s online activities, DiRienzo notes. “We have opportunities for [our viewers] to engage with one another” about topics discussed in the series. To celebrate Veteran’s Day in the U.S., Viva Vos featured a host of segments on the Hispanic contributions to the military, with interstitial material culled from viewers. “We invited people to send in their pictures and stories about their relatives or themselves and their military experience.”

Initiatives like that also help viewers build a relationship with the local stations presenting V-me, DiRienzo explains. “That’s one of the reasons why so many of the stations were eager to present the service. Public broadcasting has been such a force as a community service in the U.S. and the V-me network offers them the opportunity to expand that impact more fully into their Hispanic communities.”

Ending the schedule each night is a Spanish-language feature film with the V-me En Pantalla block.

Most of V-me’s schedule is acquired, but DiRienzo says that more original productions, following the success of Viva Voz, are on the planner. In October, V-me premiered Estudio Billboard, hosted by Billboard magazine’s Leila Cobo and featuring interviews with, and performances by, top Latin artists. “We hope to build on the amount of original productions that we’re able to do,” DiRienzo says.

WHAT’S NEW: V-me kicks off 2008 with a celebration of Viva Voz. From January 2 to 6, V-Me is broadcasting some of the best segments from the nightly interview show, with episodes such as “Music,” “U.S. Latinos” and “Arts & Entertainment.”

Coming up this year will be the premiere of V-me’s version of the kids’ live-action series The Fairies. “We have English, Spanish and Portuguese rights, covering North America, Latin America, Spain and Portugal," says DiRienzo. "We’ll be making versions of the series [for those markets], so we’ll be looking for co-production partners.”

WEBSITE: www.VmeTV.com

—By Mansha Daswani