CBS Telenoticias

CBS Telenoticias (written as CBS Telenotícias in Brazil, formerly known simply as Telenoticias) was a subscription news television channel operated by CBS, headquartered in Miami.[1] It was the first news channel to broadcast its programming in Spanish and Portuguese languages to Latin America.[1]

CBS Telenoticias
Logo for CBS Telenoticias
Launched1 December 1994 (1994-12-01)
Closed1 March 2000 (2000-03-01)
Owned byTelemundo Group (1994-1997; 2000)
CBS (1997-1998 full ownership; 1998-2000 part ownership)
Grupo Medcom (1998-2000 part ownership)
Picture format480i (SDTV)
Language
Broadcast areaLatin America
HeadquartersMiami, Florida, U.S.
Formerly calledTelenoticias (1994-1997)
Replaced byTelemundo Internacional

History

Early years: 1994-96

Telemundo Group (then owned by investment firm Reliance Capital) announced that it would launch a 24-hour Spanish-language cable news channel that would be distributed in Latin America, Spain and the United States; at the time of the announcement, Telemundo was in the midst of negotiations with Reuters and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to become partners in the planned network, which it initially scheduled a target launch for later that year. Telemundo planned to use resources from Reuters Television and BBC World Service Television to provide content for international news stories, with BBC contributing its BBC Latin America Service's international newscasts and analysis programs.[2][3]

While the BBC ultimately did not partner in the network, Reuters (which acquired a 42% interest) would reach an agreement to develop the network with Telemundo (which also maintained a 42% stake). Three other media companies acquired interests in the new venture, Argentine publishing and broadcasting owner Grupo Clarín (which owned 8%) and Spain-based Antena 3 (which owned the remaining 8%).[4][5][6][1][7]

On January 25, 1994, the partners announced that the service would be named Telenoticias.[2] The network launched on December 1, 1994, becoming the third 24-hour news channel to serve Latin America that was headquartered in the region (Mexican giant Televisa's ECO was the first, launched in 1988; Canal de Noticias NBC, a venture launched by eventual Telemundo parent NBC on March 15, 1993,[4] was the second, as it operated from the Charlotte, North Carolina facilities of the NBC News Channel affiliate video service). Telenoticias – which broadcast its programming in Spanish and Portuguese – was operated out of Telemundo's headquarters in the Miami suburb of Hialeah, Florida. In addition to distribution on cable and satellite television, some Telenoticias programming was also carried by television stations in certain U.S. markets, including KUBD (now Ion Television owned-and-operated station KPXC-TV) in Denver; WSNS-TV in Chicago (which otherwise operated as a Telemundo owned-and-operated station); and KQBN-LP (now Azteca affiliate KUDF-LP) in Tucson, Arizona.[8] Anchors employed by the channel during this time included Marian de la Fuente, Jose Gray, Carlos Maria Ruiz, Rodrigo Vera, Pablo Gato and Susana Roza Vigil.

CBS ownership (1996–1998)

From the beginning, all five of the network's owners did not maintain a smooth relationship, disagreeing on Telenoticias' management and content; ultimately, the partners opted to sell of the network. In late June 1996, the companies sold Telenoticias to CBS, marking the company's first cable television venture since it ran the short-lived arts-oriented network CBS Cable (which it eventually named its new cable division) in the early 1980s. By this point, Telenoticias was available to 20 million households in 22 countries.[9]

Following the closure of the CBS purchase, the network was rebranded CBS Telenoticias on January 1, 1997. As part of the sale agreement, Telemundo entered into an agreement to outsource production responsibilities for the Telemundo network's national news program, Noticiero Telemundo, whose main anchor Raul Peimbert subsequently joined Telenoticias; the deal allowed CBS Telenoticias to produce the two weeknight-only newscasts, which aired at 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (the latter having been moved into prime time as part of a programming realignment that removed an hour of telenovelas from the network's evening schedule to accommodate the move of local newscasts on Telemundo stations into the 10:00 p.m. hour), replacing an existing production agreement with CNN. The network also began utilizing resources from CBS Newspath to provide story content to supplement the newscasts, and based a small unit of reporters at the affiliate news service's headquarters in Washington, D.C. The network expanded its distribution into the United States in the fall of 1997,[10] with the launch of a service that emphasized news content focusing on the United States, the Caribbean and Mexico that launched on the same date as CNN en Español; the U.S. service featured two issues-focused talk shows, along with rolling newscasts.

In late 1997, CBS Telenoticias began providing news programming content to Radio Unica, a radio network that launched in December of that year as the first nationally distributed Spanish-language radio network in the United States.[11]

Launch in Brazil

The Portuguese language version debuted in October 1997 on the DirecTV Brasil line-up.[12] Initially, it had about 12 hours of programming in Portuguese; the rest of the broadcast day was covered by CBS news programs.[13] With the creation of the Portuguese language version of the channel, the cable operators NET and Multicanal, at the time owned by Grupo Globo, decided to remove the channel from their programming to avoid competition with GloboNews.[1][14][15] In addition, the channel's launch was delayed several months as the satellite that was to transmit CBS Telenotícias, PanAmSat 5 – which went into orbit in August 1997 – did not become fully operational until October 12, and cable providers obtained satellite receivers to receive the signal beamed from PanAmSat 5 later than expected.[16]

CBS Telenotícias scored an early coup. Beginning on December 15, 1997, it took over production of Jornal do SBT, the main newscast of SBT.[17] The Brazilian network and CBS, also began sharing content.[17] Eliakim Araújo and Leila Cordeiro hosted the news program from Miami, while Hermano Henning hosted the program from the SBT studios, located in Osasco.[17][18] This deal was similar to the Noticiero Telemundo production agreement.[19]

TVA (currently Vivo TV) began including the channel in their line-up from February 1, 1998 in their basic package.[12][13]

In March 1998, SBT started to broadcast five hours of programming from CBS Telenotícias through the night, known as SINAL (Sistema de Notícias da América Latina; Latin American News System in English).[18] Telenotícias also established content sharing partnerships with Band and TV Cultura, but their contributions could not be shown on SBT.[20][21]

Bankruptcy, and sales to Grupo Medcom and Telemundo (1998–2000)

During the first quarter of 1998 alone, Telenoticias and fellow CBS Cable-owned channel Eye on People lost a combined $9 million in revenue.[22] In late 1998, CBS sold a 70% interest in the channel to Mexican-based Grupo Medcom, a concern operated by the Serna family; under the deal, CBS continued to provide news content resources through CBS Newspath (CBS also sold its stake in Eye on People to Discovery Communications, which subsequently rebranded the network as Discovery People[23]). Financial problems ultimately trickled into Telenoticias' operations; as a result, CBS Telenoticias stopped producing Jornal do SBT in early 1999 (with SBT continuing to produce the program in-house until it ended in 2016). However, in July 1999, the network's financial problems got even worse; some of the telephones at one of the network's news bureaus were disconnected, employees received salary paychecks later than scheduled, and reimbursements were never paid out. By the end of that month, CBS Telenoticias laid off 77 staffers; several days later, the network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[24] Despite the filing, the network gained affiliations with a few low-power television stations, such as K19BW (now KLEG-CD) in Dallas.

CBS sold its stake in Telenoticias to Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media in February 2000 for $2.35 million; the deal was approved in federal bankruptcy court, placing Telenoticias back under the auspices of Telemundo, which Sony and Liberty acquired months after Telenoticias' sale to CBS.[25][26][19][27] The channel ultimately ceased operations on March 1, 2000. The Portuguese language division was dissolved as part of an agreement between Telemundo and Rede Globo to broadcast its telenovelas, and the Spanish-language channel would be replaced by the international version of Telemundo.[28][29]

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References
  1. Mauricio Araújo (20 January 2011). "NBC e CBS Apostam em Canais Latinos de Notícias". TV Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  2. "Telemundo Plans Spanish News Service". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Reuters. June 2, 1993. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  3. Janet Stilson (June 7, 1993). "Telemundo joins net news race - Spanish style". Multichannel News. Fairchild Publications. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. "Westinghouse Seeks Purchase". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. May 24, 1996. p. 6.
  5. "Company Town Annex". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. January 26, 1994. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  6. "Telemundo, Reuters and three Spanish-language broadcasters". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. January 31, 1994. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  7. "CBS quer ganhar os mercados latinos". Mercado. Folha de S.Paulo. 28 June 1996. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  8. Robert Elliott (April 15, 1996). "TV news station geared for upper-income Hispanics". Inside Tucson Business. Wick Communications. pp. 12–13.
  9. Lee Hall (July 1, 1996). "TeleNoticias buy puts CBS into cable". Electronic Media. pp. 1–2.
  10. Lee Hall (March 10, 1997). "TeleNoticias plans U.S. launch". Electronic Media. p. 44.
  11. Jeffery Zbar (September 29, 1997). "U.S.' first national Spanish radio net readied for launch". Advertising Age. Crain Communications. p. 56.
  12. Ricardo Valladares (28 January 1998). "Versão brasileira". Veja. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  13. Mariana Scalzo (9 January 1998). "CBS Telenotícias chega à TVA em fevereiro". Outro Canal. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  14. "Operadoras lançam pacotes". TV Folha. Folha de S.Paulo. 2 November 1997. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  15. 20 de novembro de 1997. "CBS contra Globo". Brasil. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  16. Mike Galetto (November 24, 1997). "Brazil squeeze for TeleNoticias". Electronic Media. pp. 8–9.
  17. "'SBT-CBS' ressuscita casal telejornal". TV Folha. Folha de S.Paulo. 14 December 1997. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  18. Daniel Castro (21 February 1998). "CBS terá 6 horas de jornalismo no SBT". Outro Canal. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  19. Telemundo (February 1, 2000). "Telemundo Network Wins Bid To Acquire CBS/TELENOTICIAS". PR Newswire. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  20. Cristina Padglione (12 November 1998). "Ibope de "Torre" pode espichar a novela". Outro Canal. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  21. Cristina Padglione (6 January 1999). "Record esconde "Leão Livre' no fim da noite". Outro Canal. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  22. "At press time". 'Electronic Media. May 4, 1998. pp. 1–2.
  23. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; CBS Is Selling Stake in Venture". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. December 31, 1998. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  24. Dan Trigoboff (August 2, 1999). "Telenoticias files Chapter 11". Broadcasting & Cable. p. 7.
  25. Mary Sutter (February 2, 2000). "Telemundo buys CBS/Telenoticias". Daily Variety. Cahners Business Information. p. 4.
  26. "A federal bankruptcy judge last week approved the sale of 24-hour Spanish and Portuguese-language news channel CBS/Telenoticias to Spanish language Telemundo network". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. February 7, 2000. Archived from the original on February 23, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  27. Jo Dallas (6 February 2000). "Telemundo Deals for CBS TeleNoticias". Multicannel News. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  28. Anna Lee (28 February 2000). "Acordo com Globo tira CBS Telenotícias do ar". Outro Canal. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  29. Anna Lee (26 February 2000). "Canal CBS Telenotícias acaba dia 1º". Ilustrada. Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
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