Univision Company

Time was when officials at the local network-owned TV stations were only competing against themselves in the evening news ratings. But these days they have Spanish-language KMEX-TV Channel 34 nipping at their heels. The audience for KMEX's 6 p.m. weeknight newscast has increased 18% over the past year. It still falls short of those for KABC-TV Channel 7, KNBC-TV Channel 4 and KCBS-TV Channel 2, but the gap is narrowing, and "Noticias 34" was No.

Univision Communications Inc., the Spanish-language broadcaster taken private last year, posted a wider second-quarter loss Friday, weighed down by an advertising slump. The net loss expanded to $100.7 million from $19.6 million a year earlier, the New York-based radio and television company said. Sales declined 4.3% to $533.1 million. Excluding major soccer tournaments and political ads, revenue increased 0.4%. Sales fell amid "challenging economic conditions," Chief Executive Joe Uva said.

A television news director who was fired by Univision Communications Inc. last year for allegedly slanting the news fired back Monday, contending in a lawsuit that company executives shaped stories to woo advertisers. Jorge Mettey served for five years as the influential news director of Univision's flagship KMEX-TV Channel 34, which is Los Angeles' top-rated station. He was ousted in April 2007 after the company determined that he breached ethics policies in directing news coverage.

Univision Communications Inc. said Monday that it probably would trim expenses as the Spanish-language media giant grappled with a worsening economy and a mountain of debt. "Univision, like every broadcaster, is going to be taking a very hard look at all of its expenses," Chief Financial Officer Andrew Hobson told analysts during a conference call Monday to discuss the company's third-quarter results. "We are preparing for a pretty tough recessionary environment," he said.

It's 2 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon. Inside Studio A at Univision's modern production complex, the audience of 400 has just been ushered in. Most are in their 30s or 40s, but there are a few older people and some in their teens and early 20s. All are well-dressed--the men in jackets and ties, the women in suits or dresses. Many have been waiting outside in the sun since early in the morning. They are anxious, expectant. "Having fun? Isn't it great to be here?

Federal approval Tuesday of the $12.3-billion sale of Univision Communications Inc. to a group of private investors was just the first hurdle for the new owners of the country's largest Spanish-language media company.

WHEN Alex Pels was growing up in Argentina in the 1970s and '80s, he recalls, "there was not really a lot of choices in terms of how you got access to pop culture." "Once in a blue moon somebody would bring, like, a Rolling Stone [magazine] that somebody had brought from the United States, and it might be 8 months old, but for you it was the latest thing," says Pels, general manager of the Universal City-based mun2 television network. "So you had to keep your antenna open."

Considering that Latinos make up the largest ethnic group in the United States and Latino buying power is on an upward march, you'd figure Spanish-language networks would be fighting advertisers off. They aren't. This week in New York, where the bulk of the commercial time for the upcoming television season will be sold at what's called the upfront market, Univision and Telemundo will need to make hard sells.

Univision, the country's highest-rated Spanish-language television network and a leading draw for young adult viewers, has invited White House hopefuls from both major parties to participate in the first presidential candidate debates to be conducted entirely in Spanish. The network has proposed two debates, one for each party, to be held on back-to-back Sundays in September -- giving the candidates unprecedented exposure to a mass audience of increasingly important Latino voters.