The appointment of Joe Uva as NBCU’s Chairman, Hispanic Enterprises and Content, is “an exciting evolution of NBCUniversal’s strategy to serve the growing Hispanic population in our country,” Telemundo President Emilio Romano told employees at the Spanish-language network in an internal memo.
The memo, of which Portada obtained a copy, comes on the heels of an internal restructuring at Telemundo parent, NBC Universal. The move puts Bonnie Hammer as head of the entire cable entertainment portfolio and Lauren Zalaznick –who previously oversaw Telemundo- to a new role focusing on digital, monetization and emerging technology. Uva, a former CEO of Univision Communications, will oversee both, mun2 and Telemundo.
Praise for Zalaznick
Romano, who joined Telemundo in the fall of 2011, praised Zalaznick’s role as key to Telemundo’s ratings milestones (the network this year reported its best January ever) and –perhaps more importantly her role in helping NBCU and Telemundo secure the rights to the FIFA World Cup starting in 2015. While Telemundo didn’t disclose a specific figure, the FIFA rights were reported to be worth more than $600 million, nearly double the $325 million that Univision paid for its current package. FIFA is sure to give Telemundo an audience boost.
Zalaznick “has been an unconditional partner and instrumental in bringing our company to where we are today,” Romano wrote. “We will miss her dearly and wish her the best in her new role.”
As for Uva, Romano says to be confident in that he’ll help the network grow. “We look forward to working with him and each of you to deliver another record-breaking year in 2013.” Uva’s first day at NBCU will be April 3rd.
Under the restructuring, Uva will oversee all NBCU’s Hispanic content efforts, including Telemundo and mun2, as well as for increasing the presence of Hispanic news and entertainment programming across all of NBCUniversal’s networks and platforms. According to the company, NBCU properties already reach 90 percent of all Hispanics (more than any other media company.)
[ctalatinb]