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Fox sells its 50% stake in MundoFox to RCN


Samantha

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I thought RCN was a cable provider.

 

This is the Colombian RCN, which started in radio (they still own radio stations) and branched out into television. They got their own TV network in 1998 and it's kind of been a money printer for them ever since because it's a duopoly market.

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This is the Colombian RCN, which started in radio (they still own radio stations) and branched out into television. They got their own TV network in 1998 and it's kind of been a money printer for them ever since because it's a duopoly market.

 

Except that Caracol Television also serves Colombia and has been a TV network as well since 1998. Colombia TV is weird, but I do like their newscasts.

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It seems like Fox tried taking the Sony route when they bought Telemundo in trying to just get by on name recognition alone and assuming that Spanish-speaking viewers watch anything that has the word 'telenovela' on it or will accept dubbed shows, and failed miserably (when Sony sold TMD to NBC that network put in people who just knew the market was splintered and worked much better with it).

 

The major problem with MundoFox though is that RCN shows are entirely too violent for American audiences (Hispanic audiences still mostly watch on one set with family; fine for your average Univision sudser, but El Capo, a violent drug lord drama? Isn't happening.) and that their attempts to get their affiliates to start news divisions quickly got slapped in the face when said affiliates told them this isn't 1990 with Fox and brute force doesn't work, especially with low-powers that on a good day find cable coverage in the 980's. The schedule came off as rejects, and their original shows were mostly rehashes of English-language shows with a quarter of the budget and effort. The local affiliate in Milwaukee for instance has had three ownerships in the last five years and is still not off analog and only on one cable system in the area; they're taking big advantage of the digital switchover extension for LP's.

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The composition of the network's affiliate body was more than likely a sizeable part of why the network has been struggling. MundoFox was lucky to get full-power main channel affiliations in a few major markets like Los Angeles and Dallas, but it might have done better by gaining more subchannel affiliations with higher-profile stations elsewhere, especially in Fox Television Stations markets (outside of affiliations it already has with the group's stations in New York City, Washington and Chicago). MundoFox would have had more promotional opportunities and probably better channel clearances via basic digital tiers in many larger markets that way (especially through the FTS outlets), whereas most of MundoFox's affiliates don't even have the option of receiving must-carry status on cable and satellite providers since the majority, as MrSchimpf pointed out, are low-power stations. For that reason, it didn't perform as well as its established competitors in the ratings because of the limited visibility.

 

Fox and RCN tried to figure out how ease some of the revenue losses someway early on, hence why they replaced its overnight novela repeat block with infomercials in July 2014 (the end result of that was MundoFox had carried more hours of infomercials each weekday than even Estrella TV). According to Variety, Fox wanted to focus more of its Spanish-language programming efforts on its cable channels (Nat Geo Mundo, Fox Life and Fox Deportes), while RCN wanted to remain in the "open (broadcast) network television sector".

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/mundofox-rcn-fox-univision-1201543541/

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  • 2 weeks later...

MundoFox is now MundoMax. It has also cancelled the national newscast it aired and laid off its entire staff. And it was not a well-planned move:

 

Network President Ibra Morales is currently in Miami, where an affiliate meeting was held today. A source says the affiliates were given no prior notice about the network name change or the cancellation of the national newscast. ... The “rebranding” was so sudden that the network’s MundoFox “bug” remained on air and the logo itself continued in use with the MundoMax name on the Facebook page. The MundoFox page was shut down and replaced by MundoMax.

The MundoFox website is still operating, the FB page has moved but not Twitter.

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I wonder how many affiliates are now going to cancel their newscasts?

 

Not many had them.

 

KEJR had a local program called Buenos Días Arizona. KWHY is, well, KWHY. And the Miami station will probably still make a go of it.

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MundoFOX branding is still on the air, by the way. This doesn't seem well-planned.

 

It took until now to see their new logo, which apparently debuts August 13:

 

MundoFox-to-MundoMax.png

 

This just has to be a textbook case of worst rebrand management ever. The logo doesn't work well, either — way too many colors.

 

KEJR's PSIP updated to MndoMAX from MndoFOX, which is an improvement, but seriously if you were unfamiliar with the topic you wouldn't be sure what the name of the network is. Couldn't they have waited until August 13 to roll out everything at once? I mean, I get the urgency of dropping Fox from the name, but...

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First lesson of logo design; never have something which can easily have a "Goatse" vibe to it. I hate to be so direct in that description, but...the tops flourishes are fingers and you can (or won't) go from there...

 

Also, that thing is going to look terrible in smaller forms as mere pixels as part of the DOG, especially in 480i SD. You have to keep it simple or it just looks too busy and will look too odd; EVINE is a perfect comparison with way too many colors and no way to simplify it without just going by the wordmark.

 

Finally, you have to wonder what their sports rights will look like once Fox Deportes content is removed. I know they didn't have the highlight content of Deportes by far, but Colombian soccer doesn't have that much of a States viewership, and they might be desperate enough to let Premier Boxing Champions add yet another value-diluting boxing show to their roster.

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First lesson of logo design; never have something which can easily have a "Goatse" vibe to it. I hate to be so direct in that description, but...the tops flourishes are fingers and you can (or won't) go from there...

 

I never saw that, but now I do, and I can't unsee it. Yikes.

 

I mean, you can do a multicolor logo and not have it come out like that mess. Here's one that works pretty well:

 

Logo-galatv.png

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  • 5 weeks later...
It's the end of the road for the news on KWHY.

 

This news comes today as part of an announcement that RCN will take full control of the station. Only five employees will transfer to the MundoMax payroll and building; 50 to 60 jobs will be cut, 40 of them in the news department.

 

The Meruelo Group, which owned the station, apparently thought it was too much of a hassle for not enough of a profit.

 

However, there may be some hope for the return of a network newscast. The MundoMax release states the network will "return in 2016 with a revamped national news format".

 

KUVM in Houston will also come under the full control of RCN.

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