For Fox, My Network es su network

By BRIAN LOWRY

Lauren Sanchez anchors KCOP's festive newscast.

"NEWS CORP. FIGHTS BACK With New Network," blared the Los Angeles Times headline following Fox's announced plans to introduce something called My Network TV on its soon-to-be-UPN-less stations.

Fox is certainly no stranger to fighting back, but against whom?

Although the assumption is that My Network challenges the new CW -- CBS and Warner Bros.' joint venture born from the ashes of UPN and the WB -- in many respects its template is Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster that consistently out-rates them both. In fact, despite its linkage to MySpace, the social-networking site News Corp. recently acquired, My Network appears designed to entice the rapidly growing Hispanic market using an English-language dialect.

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch has historically been foresighted about going where the marketplace leads him, from establishing pipelines into China to recognizing the crucial importance of sports broadcasting.

With My Network, Fox has identified what any demographer will mention if you can wake one up, which is that Hispanics are the U.S.' fastest-growing ethnic segment -- particularly in urban centers like New York and Los Angeles, where Spanish-language TV dominates within Latino homes and occasionally tops the local ratings overall.

Moreover, the Hispanic population is disproportionately young, causing advertisers swoon like teenage girls at an Enrique Iglesias concert. Despite representing just over 10% of U.S. households, Hispanics penetration is far more significant in cities that are My Network's cornerstone -- accounting for a third of homes, for example, in Los Angeles. In addition, 46% of Southern California's Hispanic residents are under 25, providing some idea of the demo's vast growth potential.

EVERYTHING ABOUT My Network suggests tapping into that market is a key goal, knowing that younger Hispanics are usually bilingual and can easily move back and forth between the Univision telenovelas their mothers and grandmothers watch and youth-oriented fare on Fox or the WB. Even the name evokes the marketing position carved out by Spanish-language stations that promote themselves as "Tu canal" ("Your channel") or "Nuestro canal" ("Our channel"), underscoring the communal bond between station and viewer.

"They use the personal address, which makes it more intimate," says Mari-Aala Massakas, the former head of research and marketing at Univision's L.A. station KMEX. "The goal is to say, 'We are your channel,' your home away from home."

Small wonder that My Network's inaugural programming essentially clones what works on Univision -- cheesy Monday-through-Friday primetime soaps (the new serials are titled "Desire" and "Secrets") augmented by over-the-top unscripted concepts, doubtless with a heavy dose of scantily clad females.

TO WITNESS THE LATTER, simply check the not-necessarily-news on KCOP, Fox's UPN affil in L.A., where Rick Garcia and flirty Lauren Sanchez ("Newscasters just aren't supposed to be this hot," enthused Oye magazine) guide viewers through a flash-cards version of the world, including a nightly "News From Latin America" segment, set to a throbbing musical beat. As party atmospheres go, all that's missing are the rope line and martinis.

The burgeoning Latino audience's value, particularly in those cities where Fox owns stations, also explains why News Corp. threw a corporate hissy fit over fears that Nielsen's switch to local peoplemeter ratings might diminish measurement of minority viewing. In response, the company bankrolled the Don't Count Us Out coalition, persuading minority leaders and activists to spearhead its political campaign against the ratings service.

Fox hasn't been coy about its intentions, with Twentieth Television chief operating officer Bob Cook acknowledging in one interview that My Network will "strike a chord with the second- and third-generation Latin community." Mostly overlooked, however, have been the possible ramifications for Univision, the Spanish-language juggernaut that recently put itself on the sales block and has skated by acquiring relatively inexpensive soaps, along with lesser rivals such as NBC-owned Telemundo, if Fox can siphon away younger Latinos.

In some respects, the My Network model is as old as "Operation Prime Time," a consortium of independent stations forged in the 1970s to counter the then-Big Three networks by aligning to commission original programs. Of course, Fox eventually took the idea and ran with it, forming a legitimate fourth network.

Fox might be jumping ahead of the curve again, though its innovation here could be as simple as convincing a vital audience, "Mi Red TV es su canal."