The retrenchment follows the cancellation of Telemundo's late-night comedy show, "Mas Vale Tarde con Alex Cambert," which was broadcast from Universal's CityWalk. Although it featured a promising young comedian, the show, which launched in November, could not gain traction and guests with broad appeal.
"We took a good swing, but it didn't work out," Browne said.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, June 07, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 24 words Type of Material: Correction
Telemundo: A May 31 article in Business about changes at Telemundo said Al Corral, the longtime KVEA news director, was let go. He resigned.
This is not the first round of cutbacks for Telemundo. Only 18 months ago, the network shed 5% of its workforce and consolidated much of its TV station news operations.
Telemundo is not alone.
This week, competitor Azteca America terminated 30 people, mostly at its Glendale headquarters, and moved the bulk of its news production to Mexico City. And in early May, another upstart, Houston-based LAT TV, folded after it couldn't get financing.
Azteca, a subsidiary of Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca, and Telemundo said the weak ad market was partially responsible for the restructuring.
Julio Rumbaut, a Miami media consultant, said one of the reasons Telemundo struggled in the morning with "Cada Dia" was that viewers' TV sets were still set on Univision from the evening before, when they watched its popular telenovelas.
But the prospect of more telenovelas is dispiriting to some.
"There certainly are already enough telenovelas on TV," said Felix Gutierrez, a USC journalism professor. "I would have hoped that NBC would have set a higher standard, not a lower one with less information and more canned escapist entertainment."
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meg.james@latimes.com
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Recent layoffs
Telemundo separately confirmed that two executives who were caught up in last year's scandal at the NBC Universal-owned KVEA-TV Channel 52 station in Los Angeles over political reporter Mirthala Salinas' affair with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have left the company.
Al Corral, the longtime KVEA news director, was let go earlier this spring.
Ibra Morales, the highest-ranking executive among the four people disciplined for violating Telemundo's journalistic standards, served as president of the Telemundo station group. Morales' last day was Friday. The company declined to renew his contract, and it said his position would not be immediately filled.
A Telemundo spokesman said the departures of Corral and Morales were not related to the Salinas scandal.
Salinas resigned last fall rather than accept a new assignment as a reporter in the station's Inland Empire bureau. Salinas now is a co-host of the Los Angeles talk radio show "Hoy Por Hoy" on W Radio XETRA 690 AM.
Manuel Abud, who was removed as general manager of KVEA in Los Angeles, has since been reassigned as general manager of the Telemundo TV station in Dallas.
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Sources: Times reporting, NBC Universal, Telemundo
