"Most everyone is focused on total U.S. Hispanics, but the real
story is the bicultural Latino," said Rafael Oller, the network's
senior VP-marketing. "Three out of four speak English well or very
well. These bicultural Latinos self-identify as Latino and American
and are looking for culturally relevant programming."
Many viewers already put Si TV in the same group as Bravo or
Comedy Central, Mr. Oller added.
The bicultural trend could prove useful for Si TV, soon to be
Nuvo TV. The network expects to reach 30 million households by the
end of this year -- a milestone that would make it eligible to be
rated by Nielsen and therefore of more interest to advertisers. The
channel currently reaches approximately 25 million to 27 million
households, Mr. Oller said.
The network also came to understand that its original name
didn't resound with the audience it hoped to cultivate, said CEO
Michael Schwimmer.
"Si TV was confusing," Mr. Schwimmer said. "People would ask if
that was 'sea' like the ocean or 'see' like you can see television.
You can imagine what's it's been like dealing with that sort of
confusion."
"We also did some proprietary research and realized that it also
conveyed a sense of exclusivity," he added. "The bicultural Latino
audience is much broader than that. It's second-generation,
fourth-generation Latino. They don't see themselves watching a
television network that has a Spanish-language name."
