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2014 76: 211 originally published online 27 JanuaryInternational Communication GazetteJuan Pin

Latin AmericaA multilayered transnational broadcasting television industry: The case of

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Article

A multilayered

transnationalbroadcasting televisionindustry: The case ofLatin America

Juan PinonNew York University, USA

Abstract

The transformation of the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American television industrial land-scape is slowly reshaping the composition of interregional programming flows, with anincreasing presence of transnational corporations competing in different modalities innational markets. While long-standing dominant Latin American media corporations stillhold a disproportionately hegemonic position in their domestic markets, the productionof culturally proximate products is no longer the prerogative of national networks. The

transnational invites us to reflect on the new sets of collaborations and transnationalindustrial structures of production, distribution, exhibition, and consumption resultingfrom the interrelated institutional relationships among television corporations acrossthe region.

Keywords

Hispanic, latina/o, latin American, media, media ownership, Spanish-language TV,television, TV distribution, TV production

The intensification of different processes of media globalization and their specific

articulations within the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American region have foreground

an emerging transnationalism, which offers a way to understand both the visibility

and manufacture of hybrid socio-economic-cultural formations within an increas-

ingly complex broadcasting television landscape. The notion of the transnational

Corresponding author:

Juan Pinon, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, Steinhardt School of Education, Culture

and Social Development, New York University, 239 Greene St. 8th floor, New York, NY 10003, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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defies the assumed binary opposition between the national and the foreign, show-

ing the porous nature of national borders that have long served as geopolitical

spatial containers of the material and the symbolic from which sociocultural

national identities have been built. Georgiou (2006) points out that transnational

is not equivalent to global, because while the transnational recognizes the devel-

opment and sustaining of connection and networks across geographical and cul-

tural borders, it also underlines the key significance of national borders in partly

framing and restricting social actions and their meanings (2006, 10). Chalaby

(2005) argues transnationalization is a new order that is shaping the international

communication fabric and restructuring the relationship between the local, the

national, the regional, and the global through a new complex relationship between

media corporations, their products and their audiences (2005: 31).

Despite the overwhelming amount of programming flows from Western coun-tries, particularly from the United States to the rest of the world (Miller et al.,

2005), the case of the Latin American television industry has drawn the attention of

scholars because of the growing vitality of some national broadcasting corpor-

ations, the intensity of interregional television flows, and the increasing expansion

of fictional programming, specifically telenovelas, within the worlds television

market place (Havens, 2006). The resilience and vitality of the Latin American

television industry and markets against the expansion of U.S. programming in

the region has been explained by Straubhaar (1991), who uses the concept of cul-

tural proximity, which predicts that audiences will prefer localnational programsif available. Following a cultural argument, Sinclair (2004) argues that the Latin

American region is a geocultural linguistic market with cultural proximity operat-

ing not only in national markets but also at regional levels, driven by sociohistoric

and culturallinguistics ties. However, there are signs of industrial transformation

within the region that Lotz has described as a multichannel transition (Lotz, 2007),

one that is characterized by a trend of shrinking massive audience reach by national

broadcasters in a segmented media landscape, which has resulted in part due to the

rising options offered by new television producers and content distributors through

cable, satellite, and the Internet. Hesmondhalgh (2006) argues that a trend ofconsolidation and conglomeration among global media firms with large bureau-

cracies has made them turn to the innovation and creative flexibility of small

independent producers. However, Miller et al. (2005) underscore the imprints of

global capitalism in this industrial logic, in which this corporate interdependence is

shaped by the New International Division of Labor, where media global conglom-

erates exploit labor overseas while retaining the key positions, for the decision-

making process, copyrights, and financial returns. This is the asymmetrical

industrial landscape, resulting from two decades of media deregulation, privatiza-

tion, and liberalization in which global and national networks hold dominantpower through processes of media consolidation while also facing competition

from emerging players both domestically and abroad. In this context, I sought

to analyze the regional face of the transnational in television interregional flows,

in which the United States competes not only with Argentina, Brazil, Colombia,

212 the International Communication Gazette 76(3)



4/27

Mexico, and Venezuela within the regional domestic markets, but also has estab-

lished an array of different industrial relationships, including partial co-ownership,

coproduction agreements, joint ventures, and programming alliances.

The focus of analysis in this article is the seven main television Latin American

industries: those in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, and

the U.S. Hispanic market, which dominate production and programming flows at

hemispheric levels. The concept of the transnational explains the specific articu-

lations of the national, regional, or global across these seven television industries

within their specific industrial television layers. The study shows that the line

between the national and the foreign in U.S. and Latin American television

has blurred because of the presence of transnational capital, productions, and

formats that have passed as national given different arrangements with local

players. The purpose of this article is to map the ways in which different trans-national dynamics are deployed quite distinctly across different industrial televi-

sion layers: those of ownership, modes of production, distribution, exhibition,

and consumption.

Some of the questions prompted by this analysis include the following:

1. In what specific ways can the transnational be traced across the different indus-

trial spaces of the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American television landscape?

2. Where are the industrial spaces in which the resilience of the national seems to

appear as crucial for the growth or success of these countries televisionindustries?

3. What is the main characteristic of the transnational within the regional industry?

Programming flows and the Latin American television

industrial landscape

Vertovec (1999) characterized transnationalism as a condition in which, des-

pite great distances and notwithstanding the presence of international borders[. . .], certain kinds of relationships have been globally intensified and now take

place paradoxically in a planet-spanning yet common however virtual arena

of activity (447). But this intensification does not necessarily mean homogeniza-

tion, as Georgiou (2006) argues the concept of the transnational has been re-

appropriated to recognize heterogeneity and diversity, transformation and

difference.

When it comes to processes of media globalization, in particular television,

Straubhaar (1991, 2007) underscores the emergence of a media landscape that is

more interdependent while remaining asymmetrically organized, with the risingpresence of Latin American corporations in regional and global settings, while

other scholars have long argued about the continued overwhelming presence of

U.S. programming flows both regionally and globally (Miller et al., 2005; Sa nchez

Ruiz, 2000a; Schiller, 1991). Thussu (2007) has characterized the limited presence

Pinon 213



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of Latin American programming flows conceived as alternative flows versus

global flows, while Biltereyst and Meers (2000) questioned the real impact of

telenovelas in the world television marketplace. For instance, Sa nchez Ruiz argues

that in the case of Mexico, a media television powerhouse and a key exporter

within the region, Mexican programming exports are still lower than imports,

with an unbalanced flow that favors U.S. media products (Sa nchez Ruiz, 2000a).

However, Straubhaar (2007) recognizes the presence of Hollywood television

around the world, but also argues that in the case of national markets, scheduling

and patterns of consumption are key. While there may be a lack of balance that

favors U.S. programming, primetime television is primarily national or regional,

if available, while Hollywood films may occupy less prominent spaces within

network lineups. In this essay the division among the national or transnational

and U.S. or Latin American is questioned because of the increasing cooperationand even integration among these industries. Within this corporate world,

Chalaby argues, the media conglomerates are adopting new organizational

structures and management mentalities, evolving from the global to the trans-

national, in which headquarters give affiliates growing autonomy, specialize

them according to their strengths and resources, and then link them up into an

interdependent corporate network (2005: 31). Indeed, Miller (2010) underscores

the increasingly transnational character of corporations with increasing trans-

national corporate ownership and global cultural strategies in telenovela

production.The largest Latin American domestic markets developed strong domestic broad-

casting television industries that themselves constructed the national as part of a

sweeping regional modernization project (Martn-Barbero, 1995). This construc-

tion resulted in distinctive national televisual production styles, narratives, and

local casting using a national star system that produced a powerful imaginary

anchored in the idea of the nation (Mazziotti, 2010). This has resulted in the rise

of some countries as media powerhouses while others have lagged behind. This

industrial imbalance was described by Roncagliolo (1995) with his taxonomy of net

exporters (Mexico and Brazil), new exporters (Venezuela), and net importers (U.S.Hispanic). Sa nchez Ruiz (2000b) points out how in the 1990s, the Ibero-American

televisual space was overwhelmingly dominated by only five corporations from

Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela (Globo TV, Televisa, TVE, Venevision,

and RCTV), which comprised 90% of total regional exports. However, in the

last decade some national industries have surged as new exporters, such as

Colombia and the U.S. Hispanic television industry, offering a more complex

and multilayered industrial television landscape.

A crucial goal is to recognize the particular transnational dynamics expressed

in the tensions between localnational television versus foreign across differentindustrial television layers, shaped by the following economic, social, and cultural

relations forged in cross-border, subregional, regional, and hemispheric levels: (1)

media ownership, (2) modes of production, (3) distribution flows, (4) circuits of

exhibition, and (5) patterns of consumption.




6/27

Media ownership and investment

The dual effect of the rise of new telecommunication technologies along with

processes of media deregulation in foreign ownership has allowed the penetration

of global and regional corporations in national media industries around the world

through cable, satellite, mobile telephony, and the Internet. However, the case of

the broadcast media is different because it is still one in which the idea of the nation

comes to the legal forefront under notions of the public interest and national

security. Some of the ways in which the law has shown the assumed national

character of broadcasting television have been that TV stations licenses are

granted only to national citizens, with limits on foreign ownership and investment

in broadcasting stations (Belmas and Overbeck, 2011: 346). In many countries

throughout the region, such as Mexico and Venezuela, regulation bans any for-eigner from holding a television broadcasting license and forbids ownership in

broadcasting television stations. In other countries, the law simply puts foreign

ownership limits on television stations, and such is the case with Argentina, with a

40% limitation, Brazil with 30%, Colombia with 40% (ADI, nd), and the United

States with 25% (Carter, 2000: 431). Chile is the only country out of the largest

Latin American markets that has no limits on foreign ownership.

While early limitation in foreign ownership in the broadcasting industry sets

barriers against any takeover from transnational corporations, the rise and increas-

ingly dominant position of national broadcasting corporations, particularly withinthe largest television markets, have also become de facto barriers to entry for

transnational corporations. Arguably as a consequence of these provisions, the

Latin American broadcasting television industry remains legally a national endea-

vor, while at the same time it enjoys the benefits of an increasing influx of foreign

investments. By 2011, the Observatory of Television Fiction in Ibero America

reported the existence of 47 national television networks within the seven main

Latin American markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, U.S.

Hispanic, and Venezuela (Obitel.net). Table 1 shows their ownership status in

terms of national and foreign ownership or investment.Only 14 of the 48 national networks have some kind of transnational presence

through direct ownership or investment from the stock exchange markets. But, if

we take into account only privately owned networks, that number represents 41%

of the universe, or 14 out of only 34 networks. In order to understand todays

schema of foreign media ownership within broadcasting television, it is important

to underscore the different legal, corporate, and industrial schemes in which own-

ership needs to be situated.

In addition to that variety in ownership, media regulation largely shapes the way

in which different modalities and relevance of foreign investment are deployed andfelt in every nation. Takeovers by foreign media corporations and investors can be

seen in Chile, where the law allows it. Chilevisio n was bought by Turner

Broadcasting System, part of the huge Time Warner conglomerate. Telecanal

and La Red were sold to Mexican entrepreneurs, the former to Guillermo

Pinon 215



7/27

Table1.Na

tionaltelevisionnetworksmediaownership.

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Mexico

U.S.-H

ispanic

Venezuela

Nationalow

nership

America2

GloboTV

Mega

RCN

TVAzteca

EstrellaTV

Canal1

TelevisionPublica(P)RedeBandeirantes

Canal13

CaracolTV

Cadena3

Telem

undo

Globovision

RedeRecord

UCV

CanalUno(P)

OnceTV(P)

LaTele

SBT

TVN(P)

SenalColombia

(P)

Canal22(P)

MeridianoTV

TVBrazil(P)

CanalInstitucional(P)

Televen

TVFamilia

Vale

TV

ANTV(P)

TVES(P)

TeleSur(P)

CAV

T(P)

Vive

TV(P)

Foreigninvestment

ElTrece

TVCanal

Televisa

Aztec

aAmerica

Venevision

Canal9

LaRed

UniMas(formerlyTelefutura)

Telefe

Chilevision

Univision

V-MeMundoFoxa

(P)Publicnon-for-profitnetworks.

Presenceinstockexchangemarkets.

aMundoFoxwaslaunchedinSeptember2012.

Source:Obitel(2012).




8/27

Can edo, an ex Televisa executive, and the latter to Angel Remigio, the owner of

Albavisio n. In contrast to Mexico, where there is an explicit legal clause regarding

the exclusion of foreign participation in broadcasting companies, foreign capital is

poured into the broadcasting industry through the stock exchange, and this is not

considered ownership but rather a neutral investment. This legal provision is

possible because of the status given to these foreign investors, with no voting

presence within the corporate boardroom and limited shareholder rights (Robles,

1999: 38). So the stock exchange markets seem to play an important role within this

scheme. TV Azteca has participation through the Mexican Stock Market (BMV)

and the Latin American Stock Exchange Market (LATIBEX), while Televisa is

listed in the BMV and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market. Then the

presence of foreign stakeholders is felt mainly through an atomization of investors

with no ownership rights. TV Azteca is largely controlled by Ricardo Salinas, with8% ownership, but also with controlling power of Azteca Holdings, with 54% of

the ownership of TV Azteca. Investment Trusts account for 2% of TV Aztecas

ownership, and the market represents 34% through the BMV and LATIBEX and

others 9% (Vidal, 2012a). For the Televisa Group, the Azca rraga Trust has 14.7%,

Bill Gates 7.4%, Dodge & Cox 8.7%, Oppenheimer Funds 6.2%, First Eagle

Investment Management 3.7%, Lazard Asset Management 4.9%, and the

exchange stock markets 34.4% through BMV and the NYSE. Other institutions

and foreign pension funds make up 17.9% (Vidal, 2012b).

In the case of countries that allow partial foreign ownership with percentagelimits on investment, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States,

the landscape also shows different paths. In spite of the open path for foreigners to

participate, albeit with limited ownership, in Brazil, the networks are largely con-

trolled by Brazilian media holdings: Rede Globo is owned by Globo Organizations,

Bandeirantes is owned by Grupo Bandeirantes Communications, SBT by Grupo

Silvio Santos, and Record by Record Central of Communications. But in sharp

contrast with Mexican TV Azteca and Televisa Group, these Brazilian groups are

not listed in the stock exchange markets, limiting foreign financial flows. In a

similar fashion, the two private Colombian networks, RCN and Caracol TV, areowned by Colombian corporate groups, the Grupo Ardilla and the Santo Domingo

Group, respectively. In the case of the Santo Domingo family, owners of Caracol,

it sold 60% of its shares of Caracol Radio to Prisa in 2002; however, the family

retained full ownership of Caracol TV (Arango-Forero et al., 2010). In the case of

Argentina, there is a different ownership landscape. El Trece is owned by the Clarn

Group, with a presence in the Argentinean and London stock exchange (BCBA/

LSE) markets. Grupo Clarin has made 20% of its shares available to stockholders.

Booth American Company owns 9% and the private shareholders 71% (El

Cronista, 2012). Argentinean Daniel Haddad owns 20% of Canal 9, but theremaining 80% was bought by Mexican Angel Remigio, owner of Albavisio n

(La Voz del Interior, 2007). Canal 11 Telefe is 100% owned by Telefo nica, a

Spanish telecom corporation with assets around the hemisphere and listed in the

Spanish Stock Exchange market in Madrid (BME).

Pinon 217



9/27

The U.S. Hispanic market also presents a very dynamic landscape in terms of

foreign presence. When it comes to television broadcasting entities in the United

States, legal barriers to foreigners are largely focused on broadcasting licensee

applicants and on media ownership over broadcasting infrastructure. But there is

no legal provision banning foreign investment in network corporations, conceived

as content producers. This is the legal loophole that allows the Azteca America

network to be entirely owned by Mexican TV Azteca, while the TV station affiliates

are owned exclusively by U.S. citizens (Pin on, 2011). By the same token, Spanish

Prisa started with 12% ownership of public-oriented V-Me (Edgecliffe-Johnson,

2009), but by 2012 the Spanish corporation declared it owned 42% of the network

(Prisa TV.com). Televisa re-entered as a shareholder in Univision in 2010 by

acquiring 5% of the firm, with the option of expanding its participation to 40%

(Fontevecchia, 2010). In August 2012, MundoFox was launched as a networkowned 50% by Fox NewsCorp. and 50% RCN (Business Wire, 2012). As is the

case with Azteca America, Colombian RCN has 50% ownership of MundoFox

network with zero ownership in affiliated TV stations.

Business entities specializing in media content, such as television producers, are

not subject to legal provisions in foreign media ownership as broadcasters are. The

increasing relevance of independent production houses throughout the region

makes the lack of prohibition on foreign capital a new crucial element in under-

standing new ways through which foreign corporations have an impact on national

broadcasting through strategies of production and agreements about distribution.While I do not mean the Table 2 to be exhaustive, it does show the most visible and

influential house productions specializing in fictional programming within the

region and their relationships with transnational corporations.

The presence of U.S. media corporations is highly felt in Colombia through the

ownership of FoxTelecolombia by NewsCorporations, Teleset by Sony

Corporations, RTI by NBC/Comcast, and the exclusive production agreement

between Vista Producciones and ABC/Disney. With the exception of RTI, these

production houses have gained great visibility through the Colombian network

RCN, which has dominated the countrys ratings through the years and hasachieved hemispheric visibility through a set of programming agreements with

the main U.S. and Latin American television networks. This is the very condition

that prompted the alliance between Fox and RCN to launch MundoFox as a

national Spanish-language television network in the United States. At the same

time, RTI has been a central player for Telemundos production strategy of produ-

cing low-cost programming for Latin American tastes. In Caracol TV, RTI-

Telemundo found a window for the Colombian market, where the U.S.-owned

production company tested their productions with hemispheric and global

ambitions.The presence of Spanish and Latin American corporations in the United States

is also deeply felt. The Spanish corporations Prisa and Globomedia are expanding

their presence throughout the region. Prisa owns the production house Plural

Entertainment in Miami. The Spanish corporation also has ownership of V-Me




10/27

Table2.Ow

nershipmaintelevisionhouse

productioncompanies.

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Mexico

U.S.-His

panic

Venezuela

Nationalow

nership

100Bares

Globo

UCTV

RCN

Azteca

Telemun

do

RadioCaracas

ElArbol

BandeirantesTVN

CaracolTV

Argos

Televen

IdeasdelSur

Record

Mega

VistaProducciones

CananaFilms

LatinaProd.

CrisMorena

SBT

Canal13

ColombianadeTele

visionElMall

QuimeraVisio

n

RGBEnt.

TVBrazil

Wood

VideoBase

AdictaFilms

TVES

Pol-ka

Valcine

OnceTV

LaCelula

PromoChileLtda

C.22

LaVilladelCine

MyFriend

EduardoGadea(PNI)

CristianG

alaz

MontesaacroFilms

BuenPue

rto

JuanManuelD

iaz(PNI)

Foreignpar

ticipation

TelefeContenidos

Chilevisio

n(CHV)RTI

Televisa

AztecaAmerica

Venevision

DoriMedia

Fox-Telecolombia

Telemundo

Univisio

nStudios

Underground

Teleset

VenevisionStudios

PluralEntertainment

PromofilmUSImagina

Argos

Televisa

USA

MundoF

ox

Source:Obitel(2012).

Pinon 219



11/27

and Colombian Radio Caracol. Globomedia owns Imagina in the United States

and Promofilm in Argentina. Venevision Studios in Miami is a subsidiary of

Venevision and Grupo Cisneros. While Televisa has a stake in Univision, the

Mexican company in 2012 launched Televisa USA in Los Angeles to produce

English-language fictional programming. Mexican TV Azteca and independent

production house Argos are paramount sites of production for Azteca America

and Telemundo. While independent producer FoxTelecolombia made its presence

felt through MundoFox, a property of RCN and Fox.

In Argentina, the Spanish conglomerate Telefonica owns Telefe and its produc-

tion facilities. Endemol, a company owned by Italian Mediaset, which is well

known for producing reality shows, has a production house in Argentina that

started a successful path of fictional programming exemplified by Endemols copro-

duction with Telefe ofLos Exitosos Pells and the Mexican version with Televisa,Los Exitosos Perez (TodoTVNews, 2012). This strategic move was cemented with

the acquisition of the independent production house Underground with a long-

standing production alliance with Telefe. In Argentina, the presence of Dori Media

Group, owned by Argentinean-Israeli Yair Dore, has introduced Latin American

melodrama to the Israeli market, linking the television market in both countries

with a new set of programming flows and production on both sides of the globe

(Ginossar, 2011).

Notions of ownership within the Latin American media landscape are still

shaped by the power of larger economic groups holding a strong presence inmedia-oriented business, particularly television (Trejo, 2010). However, since

the 1990s, within an increasingly globalized economy, media players saw the

need for access to foreign investment to be competitive within their domestic

markets but also at regional levels (Rey, 2002). While still protected by limits

on broadcasting foreign ownership, main media groups have sought different

modalities of transnational cooperation, alliances, or investments. Since the

mid-1990s, stock exchange markets are increasingly playing a crucial role, but

in the cases that regulation allows, global and regional media players have

aggressively sought to tap in new market and new audiences. However, globalmedia conglomerates can face a market response by Latin American economic

groups that perceive the advance of these transnational companies within their

television domestic markets as threatening to their interests. In 2006, the prema-

ture announcement for a new national network auction in Mexico triggered a

strong interest by US NBC-Telemundo that was received with an angry response

by Mexican Televisa and TV Azteca (Trejo, 2007). The same scenario was

repeated in 2009 in Colombia, when RCN and TV Caracol opposed the auction

of a third national network, a fraught process in which Spanish groups Planeta

and Prisa and Venezuelan Venevision competed and that was finally canceled(EFE News Service, 2012). The bitter corporate fight between Televisa and

Univision has deep roots in the Mexican corporations aspirations of taking

over the Hispanic network (Wilkinson and Saragoza, 2012). At the same time,

these same corporations are highly embedded in various different partnerships,




12/27

agreements, and joint ventures crucial for their operation and economic survival

in domestic markets and their visibility in the region.

Distinctive narrative models and modes of production

Within the Latin American television industry, the production oftelenovelas, series,

miniseries, telefilms, and unitary programs is still largely crafted for the domestic

market. However, rising trends in fictional production express the increasing trans-

national nature of this industry, with cross-border, regional, or global production

strategies. This study found four prevalent different modalities for appealing to

audiences beyond national borders: (a) the formats, (b) the neutral strategy, (c)

coproductions and joint ventures and, (d) localization.

Formats. Today, the industry relies heavily on formats that have proven to be suc-

cessful in other markets. While Mexico and Brazil took the lead in production capa-

cities in the 1970s, in the 1990s other national industries became a source of ideas with

the rise of Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela as format providers (Mato, 1999).

Today, Argentina and Colombia have taken the lead in original ideas, accompanied

by a surge of Chilean, Brazilian, and U.S. Hispanic formats. Argentinean telenovelas

such asLalola,Floricienta,Los Famosos Pellps, among many others, have triggered

several adaptations in different regional countries, with a large degree of success.

Colombia has produced the most successful and widely adapted telenovela in theworld withYo Soy Betty, la Fea, and in the region with Cafecon Aroma de Mujer,

Juan el Escamoso, Hasta Que la Plata Nos Separe, along with many others. Chile has

also produced telenovelas that have been adapted, withDonde EstaElisa?, Alguien te

Mira, andHijos del Monteserving as the most important examples. While the new

adaptations are filled with local and national cultural cues, the widespread nature of

remakes of successful formats has produced a transnational culture of certain nar-

ratives that have been produced across the region.

Neutral strategy. When it comes to programming flows, the telenovela industry hasalso incorporated a neutral Spanish in order to make their national products

attractive to audiences overseas (Mazziotti, 1996). The early entry of Televisas

productions throughout the Latin American and Hispanic markets established

the Mexican accent as predominant on the screen within the region. For many

scholars the so-called neutral Spanish is actually a middle-class Mexico City accent

(Waisbord, 2004; Wilkinson, 2003). More recently, the neutral approach in tele-

novela production has evolved to refer to narrative and casting strategies, used to

manufacture programming with regional or global appeal (Mazziotti, 2010;

Rinco n, 2007). Originally intended to target multinational U.S. Latino audiences,the neutral approach was adopted along with the construction of a PanLatino

identity. Univision and Telemundo have pushed this appeal to the PanLatino in

their news production since the 1980s (Rodriguez, 1999), but they have also trans-

ferred it to fictional production, with Miami at the forefront (Acosta-Alzuru, 2009;

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Mato, 2005). This approach has evolved into what I have termed reglocalization

(Pin o n, 2014), which is the trend of producing fiction with multinational casts,

from multiple locations dispersed in different countries, and with narratives devel-

oped in a local fashion but traveling across the hemisphere exemplified byLa Reina

del Sur in 2010. This telenovela incorporated multinational castings, multiple loca-

tions (shot in Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Spain, and Morocco), and

includes an immigration journey made by an empowered female hero and is the

most-watched telenovela in Telemundos history (Villarreal, 2011).

Coproductions and joint ventures. These have also become a new preferred strategy of

transnationalization for dominant networks. Globo TV has pursued an institu-

tional transnational strategy of coproduction, with the network engaging in the

production oftelenovelas for regional markets and maintaining a full commitmentto a process of cultural adaptation for different countries while at the same time

renouncing the broadcast of these coproduction versions for Brazilian audiences.

This Brazilian production machine for telenovelas that will not enter the Brazilian

market is solely committed to transnational purposes. Some of the most salient

examples of this strategy areEl Clon(Telemundo/Globo),Entre el Amor y el Deseo

(TV Azteca/Globo),Lazos de Sangre (SIC/Globo), and Pasiones Prohibidas (RTP/

Globo) (Globo Bets, 2012). Meanwhile, Televisa has been aggressively pursuing

coproduction arrangements in which the Mexican company obtains the rights to

produce Argentinean, Chilean, and Colombian formats. The Mexican companyalso coproducedBela a Feiawith Rede, a new version of the Colombian format Yo

soy Betty la fea, as well as Rebellious, based on the Argentinean format Rebelde

from Cris Morena for the Brazilian market (Gazeta Mercantil, 2008). The com-

pany has signed several coproduction agreements with RCN, RTI, Sony, Endemol,

Fonovideo, Lionsgate, and Cris Morena.

Localization. This approach in fictional production is on the rise given the new

opportunities for global media corporations to reach massive audiences with cul-

turally proximate products. Sony Pictures Television (SPT), ABC/DisneyNetworks, MTV Latin American Networks/Viacom, Nickelodeon/Viacom, Fox

Latin American Networks/NewsCorp, and HBO/Time Warner have all aggres-

sively pursued a strategy of penetration through the production of original content

for their cable networks, through ownership in local production houses, and

through coproduction agreements with key players in the television broadcasting

industry. This strategy is designed to cloak foreignness with culturally proximate

elements, ranging from the use of language, professionals, talent, places, and nar-

rative styles in order to be able to compete with local networks in primetime tele-

vision. Telenovela production and Spanish-language series are no longer aprerogative of Latin American corporations, as Nickelodeon and MTV Latin

America networks have produced teen-oriented telenovelas with a great degree of

success. Fox Latin America has been successful in series production, and Disney

Latin America has coproduced with Argentinean Polka Producciones Amas de




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Casa Desesperadas (Desperate Housewives) for the Argentinean, Mexican, and

Colombian markets. It also coproduces the most-watched telenovela, A Corazon

Partido(Greys Anatomy) in Colombia with Vista Producciones. SPT has shown a

dynamic production strategy by striking production deals with almost every hege-

monic network throughout the region (Vinaja, 2012).

While described as separate modes of production, these strategies often overlap

under a single production project with transnational goals. The regulation that

forbids and/or limits the participation of foreign entities in television broadcasting

has decisively pushed large conglomerates to seek participation through increasing

transnational modalities of production. The combined strategies of investment,

joint ventures, and coproduction with independent production houses have

become one of the most visible signs of an increasingly transnational industry.

This media scenario reveals a complex industrial reality. Miller and Leger (2001)describe runaway productions as Hollywoods corporate strategies of outsourcing

as the most visible example of new transnational corporate ties resulting from

developing markets for labor and sales [. . .] pushed business beyond treating

Third World countries as suppliers of raw materials, to look on them as

shadow-setters of the price of work (2001: 102). The scholars incursion of

media conglomerates through these different modalities of production reinforces

the hegemonic cultural and economic position of USA and Western media indus-

tries. However, Straubhaar (2007) argues that the entry of financial and techno-

logical infrastructure from global players into markets overseas has triggered thedevelopment and growth of local and national television industries, as well as

creating new hybrid products and global cultural heterogeneity.

Flows of programming distribution

During the last 5 years, Table 3 reflects the flows of newly released fictional pro-

gramming within the region. Brazil has been the main producer in the region with

more than 8,101 h from 2007 to 2011. Mexico takes second place with more than

7,716 h; Argentina is third with more than 6,098 h; while Colombia is fourth, theUnited States is fifth, Chile is sixth, and Venezuela is seventh (Obitel, 2008, 2009,

2010, 2011, 2012).

In spite of that, though, production capacities do not always reflect program-

ming distribution within the region. In terms of programming flows, the over-

whelming force has been Mexico, with more than 300 new titles released within

the other six major markets, followed by Colombia with 144 new titles (solely from

the three years 2007, 2010, and 2010), and 101 titles from U.S. Hispanic companies.

There were only 81 Brazilian titles and 2011 released within these markets, distantly

followed by Argentina with 23, and Chile with six (Obitel, 20082012).Media literature has been focused on the relevance and characteristics of pro-

gramming flows at global levels (Thussu, 2007); however, to understand program-

ming flows at regional levels it may require a more nuanced approach.

Iwabuchi (2002), studying programming flows in the East Asian media markets,

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has offered an interesting template on which to approach the complex historical,

cultural, industrial, and linguistic dynamics shaping media flows at regional levels.

If we look at Latin America, economic power, production capacities, stylistic

sophistication, and quality do not fully explain the dynamics of programming

within the region. Linguistic accents, subregional geographical proximity, migra-

tion, and diasporic populations, as well as a long history of how national popular

culture has traveled from literature, music, radio and film to television, also haveset up specific paths of media flows. To understand programming distribution the

following sections on exhibition and consumption offer some insight on the struc-

tural nature of the industrialculturallinguistic dynamics that support regional

programming flows.

Table 4. New titles released in the main Latin American markets from 2007 to 2012 by

number of titles.

Exports

Imports Argentina Brazil Chile Colombiaa Mexico U.S. Hispanic Venezuelaa

Argentina 33 0 22 44 14 0

Brazil 8 2 1 7 0 4

Chile 6 34 13 66 42 1

Colombia 4 2 4 29 12 4

Mexico 1 1 0 5 16 1

U.S. Hispanic 1 6 0 27 122 14

Venezuela 3 5 0 46 32 17

Total 23 81 6 114a 300 101 24

aIn the case of Colombia, data from 2008 and 2009 are unavailable, although the country still is the second

largest exporter in the region. In the case of Venezuela there is data missing for 2007 and 2008.Source: Obitel (20082012).

Table 3. Number of production hours of the main markets in the region from 2007 to 2011.

Prod. Hours Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia Mexico U.S. Hispanic Venezuela

2007 1,144 1,720 1,071 986 1,195 1,187

2008 1,597 2,026 667 1,612 1,248

2009 1,228 1,605 644 1,582 833 1,218

2010 1,035 1,288 671 1,671 1,194 911 380

2011 1,094 1,462 717 1,065 2,133 837 641

Total 6,098 8,101 3,770 3,722* 7,716 5,016 2,239*

*Total only from three years of information available.

Source: Obitel (20082012).




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Transnational circuits of programming exhibition

The increasing number of television networks across this newly fragmented regio-

nal landscape has triggered the need for more content. Then the amount of flows

within the region, from one country to another, may conceal the dynamics behind

who is selling what to whom and why. The intensity of regional programming flows

is the result of new networks seeking cheap accessible content to meet competition

at home, while through exclusive agreements the hegemonic networks look to

secure sources of successful programming from overseas. This competitive envir-

onment of exportimport programming has produced particular institutional

industrial routes drawn by strategic agreements and alliances among competing

networks that often mirror allied networks in other countries, an industrialinsti-

tutional television landscape that I call circuits of exhibition.A key circuit of exhibition is tied to the increasingly relevant television program-

ming flows coming from the U.S. Hispanic industry to the region. A Program

License Agreement (PLA) signed between Univision, Televisa, and Venevision in

1992 has had long-lasting effects on the U.S. Spanish television industry. With the

PLA, Univision got exclusive rights to Televisas and Venevisions programming

for 15 years (Clemens, 2006, October 16). With a U.S. demographic of two-thirds

of U.S. Hispanics of Mexican descent, Univision was able to gain profits with an

audience loyal to Televisas telenovelas. Early on, executives from Telemundo

recognized the need to successfully appeal to the large U.S. Mexican constituency.Since the early 1990s, the Hispanic network sought to cultivate a relationship with

TV Azteca in order to have access to programming with Mexican appeal (Financial

News, 1999). Then during the 1990s, in Telemundo TV Azteca found a window for

its programs, competing directly with Televisas programming from Univision.

Argos, an independent producer for TV Aztecastelenovelas, became an important

source of fictional programming across borders. In 2001, the launch of the Azteca

America network as the window for TV Azteca programming distribution in the

United States severed the programming relationship with Telemundo. However,

the production style of Mexican Argos remained present with the coproductionrelationship established between the independent house and Telemundo in 2000

(Sutter, 2000). During the decade of the 2000s, the media war across borders was

fought in Mexico and the United States through three circuits of exhibition:

TelevisaUnivision, ArgosTelemundo, and TV AztecaAzteca America.

The U.S. Hispanic industrys new strategies to co-opt audiences at regional and

global levels extended this cross-border circuit of exhibition with the integration of

the Colombian industry and audience as a new link within the chain of transnational

distribution. Since the early 2000s, Telemundo has sought a strategy of coproduc-

tion with the Colombian independent production houses Radio y Televisio nInteramericana (RTI) and Caracol TV (PR Newswire, 2001). The success of the

telenovela coproduction Pasion de Gavilanes, in 2003, paved the way for

Telemundos long-standing relationship with RTI, triggering the purchase of 40%

of the Colombian producer by its Hispanic partner in 2006. While Caracol TV

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abandoned the coproduction relationship early on, the network strengthened its

position as a distributor of RTI and Telemundo productions by providing a crucial

window for exhibition. A countermove was made by Univision, which reached

programming agreements with the competing Colombian network RCN by schedul-

ing its Colombian telenovelas on Univisions sister network, UniMa s (formerly

Telefutura) (Business Wire, 2001). Such new circuits of exhibition reenacted the

Colombian rivalry between RCN and Caracol TV through the television windows

of Univision/UniMas versus Telemundo. A regional circuit of exhibition was cemen-

ted by the programming agreement reached between Televisa and RCN (EFE News

Service, 2010), while Mexican Cadena Tres/Argos and Caracol TV have reached

several coproduction agreements (Daz, 2012). These corporate agreements created

two axes of programming flows, as circuits of exhibition, namely Univision

TelevisaRCN versus TelemundoArgos/Cadena TresCaracol TV, which all reflectthe increasing dynamism of the Miami, Mexico, and Bogota media nodes.

In Brazil, Globo TV is the hegemonic television power (Rego, 2011); from 2007

to 2011 the network had no single foreign fictional program in its own lineup

(Obitel.net). Globo TV is a leading force in telenovela production and distribution

in the world television marketplace (Rego and La Patina, 2007), and its telenovelas

have been recognized for their high production values with several international

Emmy Awards and nominations. However, the linguistic and cultural properties of

Globos telenovelas have made their penetration unevenly felt throughout the

region. Globo TVs telenovelas are very successful in the Southern Cone, a sub-region with commercial, cultural, and historic ties, where Brazilian fiction is highly

visible in Argentinas, Chiles, and Uruguays broadcasting networks (Obitel; Rego

and La Patina, 2007: 90). But the titles exported by Globo TV to the rest of the

region are relatively lower than the ones achieved by its U.S. Hispanic, Mexican,

and Colombian competitor networks. However, the ubiquity of Globo TV is

apparent by reaching coproduction deals and programming agreements with

domestic competing networks across the whole region.

In Argentina, the dominant position of Telefe and Canal Trece (Artear) as

producers of successful original content and formats for the hemisphere is chal-lenged by a more modest Channel 9 with Televisas and Telemundos program-

ming. While Telefe and Canal Trece have also included imported programming in

their lineups to a much lesser degree, what distinguishes both networks is their

relationships with independent producers, in particular Telefe with Cris Morena/

RGB and Underground and El Trece with Polka and Ideas del Sur. In Chile, while

the public network TVN has largely relied on the success of its original program-

ming, it has become an exporter, in contrast to the importer La Red, which trad-

itionally relies on Televisas programming to survive. While both Chilevisio n and

Megavisio n have produced original programming, they also have a mixed importexport model with Chilevisio n relying on Telemundos programming and

Megavisio n on Televisas decisions that also reinforce the distinctiveness of each

television channel and underscore the complex transnational hemispheric

landscape.




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The television industry in Venezuela has been affected by the complex political

scenario in the country, which has had two effects: the recent decrease of national

production and the cementing of the strategic place of Venezuelan assets in the

United States. The closing of RCTV as a broadcasting network is mirrored by the

increasing production of Venevision in Miami. Venevision has a mixed import

export model with the increasing inclusion of Televisas programming, followed by

that of RCNs and Caracols. While Televen, a traditional net importer, has mostly

relied on Telemundos programming, it has also incorporated programming from

Televisa, TV Azteca, Caracol TV, RCN, Globo TV, Telefe, and Rede Record.

Circuits of exhibitions show, on one hand, the surge of corporate chains based

on alliances, as well as in rivalries of television networks across the region; while on

the other hand, they set up distinctive dynamics of programming differentiation

that allow a particular television brand to be identified with certain productionstyles. While the main television networks try to rely mainly on the production

output from their own studios or their allied independent production houses, for

second tier television networks access to cheap programming from the region, with

certain degree of the audiences acceptance, has become a secure investment for

sustainability based on the logic of a distribution business model.

Patterns of consumption: The national versus the regional

The most important consumption pattern within the largest regional televisionmarkets is that as long as national programming is available, it has much greater

viewership than foreign programming. Audiences preferences for local program-

ming are illustrated by a programming strategy that consistently schedules national

productions in primetime and programming imports in afternoons or late nights.

Table 5. Origins of the most-watched fictional programs in the main markets for the most

recent five years (20072011).

Most watched

20072011 Argentinean Brazilian Chilean Colombian Mexican

U.S.

Hispanic Venezuelan

Argentina 46 1 2 1

Brazil 50

Chile 50

Colombia 50

Mexico 48 2

U.S. Hisp 44 6Venezuelaa 11 2 2 15

aOnly from 2009, 2010, 2011.

Source: Obitel (20082012).

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With the exception of the U.S. Hispanic market, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,

Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela the most-watched programs are overwhelmingly

made nationally. Table 5 offers data about the national origin of the 10 most-

watched fictional programs per year within these markets, focusing on the 50

most-watched titles from 2007 to 2011.

From 2007 to 2011, in Argentina, out of the 50 most-watched programs, only

four non-Argentinean productions made it to the top 10 yearly most-watched lists.

Among the 46 Argentinean titles, only one was coproduced with a foreign partner,

Suena Conmigo, produced by Televisa, Nickelodeon, and the Argentinean Illusion

Studios in 2010. For Brazil, the numbers are even more telling, as 100% of the top

50 titles were made in Brazil. Chile reveals similar results, as 100% of the 50 most-

watched titles were Chilean. Only one coproduction with foreign partners attracted

mass audiences, Don Amor, a 2008 Puerto Rican coproduction of Canal 13 andCanal 6. In Colombia, all the 50 most-watched titles were homemade. However,

there were some successful coproductions with Argentinean producers, RCN

VistaPolka (Amas de Casa Desesperadas), Caracol TVTelfe (Montecristo) in

2007, RCN (Mujeres Asesinas, a Polka format) in 2008, and TelemundoRTI

Antena 3 (La Reina del Sur) in 2011. It is also important to note that among the

most-watched programs is ABC/Disneys Greys Anatomy, localized as A Corazon

Abierto, by Vista Producciones for RCN, considered the most successful produc-

tion in Colombian history (Henao, 2010). In Mexico, 48 out of the 50 most-

watched programs were Mexican productions. The two foreign programs wereTelemundo productions with well-known Mexican actors. Among the 48

Mexican productions, only one was a coproduction with a foreign partner, Los

Exitosos Perez by Televisa and Endemol-Argentina in 2009. In Venezuela, the

falling number of national production last year has changed some consumption

patterns. Out of the 30 most-watched titles for which we have information, from

the years 2009 to 2011, only half were national (15 titles), with Venevision showing

an overwhelmingly dominant position with 12 titles. Other Venezuelan producers

include Tigritos Media, Grupo Latina, and Turiamo Producciones PNI. In con-

trast, the United States reverses all the regional Latin American trends. Of the 50most-watched titles over the last 5 years, 44 were non-US productions, all from

Televisa. The Mexican network provided at least 90% of the most-watched pro-

gramming in that market through Univision.

If we leave aside the U.S. Hispanic market, out of the 280 titles coming from the

most-watched list in Argentina (50), Brazil (50), Chile (50), Colombia (50), Mexico

(50), and Venezuela (30), 259 titles were national productions. There were only

21 nonnational titles, and 16 of them were shown in Venezuela in the last 2 years.

For the last 5 years in the Argentinean, Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, and

Mexican markets, only six nonnational productions emerged as most-watched pro-grams. All of this confirms the notion that for mass consumption, national pro-

duction, when available, overwhelmingly drives the television industry.

Another important trend emerging from the most-watched programs is the con-

centration of power in certain television networks. Out of the 57 television




20/27

networks from the region, only 12 of themCanal 13, Caracol TV, Chilevisio n, El

Trece, Globo TV, RCN, Telefe, Televisa, TVN, RCN, Univision, and

Venevisionrepresent 98% of the most-watched programs within the seven mar-

kets (Obitel 20082012). These networks are in turn led by the overwhelm-

ingly hegemonic position of Globo TV, Televisa, and Venevision within their

respective domestic markets, a position that has been crucial for their long-

standing position as the main worldwide Latin American exporters of television

programming.

These numbers show, on one hand, how audiences in the main Latin American

television markets overwhelmingly prefer national production if available; but on

the other, as Georgiou (2006) suggests, the transnationalcharacter of ethnic/immi-

grant media industries through the consumption patterns in the U.S. television

market. The notion of cultural proximity transcends exclusive cultural links tothe host country, by keeping dynamic and quite alive translocal cultural consump-

tion practices in which television is just one visible example. The fact that two-

thirds of the Hispanic population is of Mexican descent set up a condition in which

Mexican Televisa has produced 44 of the 50 most-watched fictional programs in the

U.S. Spanish-language television market. Sinclair and Cunningham (2000) under-

score that despite the complex process of cultural negotiation, resistance, and

adaptation in host countries, diasporic populations are actively sought by trans-

national media corporations conceived as potentially profitable audiences: that is

whatever collective audience preferences and desires they might be, they are stillshaped commercially and ideologically by markets for certain form of genre by

media corporations (2000: 17).

Changes in the landscape

In the last years there have been some dramatic changes and possible re-accom-

modations of these forged corporate relationships. Access to Telemundos produc-

tions for Mexican audiences has dramatically increased the visibility of the

Hispanic network, while also augmenting the overall share of Canal 9 by 15%since Televisa began including a 4-h block of Telemundos programming (De La

Fuente, 2009). This trend should have cross-border impact in the near future. At

the same time, the recent launch of MundoFox is changing the balance of power.

RCN will drop its alliance with Univision because of its corporate relation with

Fox, and RTI and Caracol TV have signed important agreements with Univision

and Televisa. The results of these realignments are yet to be seen, but they certainly

will have ripple effects throughout the whole region.

ConclusionsSweeping neoliberal policies of deregulation, privatization, and liberalization

brought horizontal and vertical integration, resulting in the strengthening of dom-

inant corporations but also creating spaces for the emergence of new competitors,

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22/27

2009; Mato, 2005) with multinational casts and neutral accents and narratives

aiming to reach the nationally heterogeneous U.S. Latino population, this mode

has increased in Latin American markets over the years. However, this transnational

strategy with a culturally regional face is also crafted by considering the purchasing

power of certain domestic markets. As with the manufacturing of national televisual

culturally proximate programs, the creation of regionally manufactured culturally

proximate programs has followed the power of certain industries and certain markets

in which the U.S. Hispanic, Mexican, and Colombian have come to the forefront.

Havens (2006) argues that when it comes to preferences in television program-

ming, cultural proximity is not divined from viewers, but articulated by program-

ming executives worldwide (4). An important argument in this article is that

regional programming counterflows within the Latin American space are charac-

terized by a chain of transnational circuits of manufactured televisual proximities.The power of these proximities is felt within the circuit of programming exhibition

in which certain television networks establish programming agreements with other

television networks across the whole hemisphere, not only mirroring domestic

rivalries at transnational levels, but more importantly ensuring the visibility of

their production styles and narrative strategies overseas. Programming flows

have long revealed the specific weight of certain countries and their industries

across the region with Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Argentina leading

as programming producers and exporters. I would also add that the very profes-

sionals in production teams with very specific formulaic cultural cues and narrativestrategies cemented a specific familiar cultural product for mass consumption. The

availability of fictional programming from their national corporations has secured

the primetime slots and the familiarity of certain televisual formulas in these dom-

inant media markets. While programming flows among countries offer a snapshot

of distribution patterns, it is through understanding the circuits of exhibitions that

we can temporarily set aside the idea of the nation and instead think about the

relationships among certain corporations within the region. The prominence of

certain corporations over others makes possible the visibility of certain programs

within a transnational chain. These alliances have also ensured that some narra-tives from certain countries become familiar and eventually a second-best choice in

programming consumption.

While consumption patterns seem to underscore the power of the local or the

resilience of the national in fictional programming preferences, they also reveal the

manufactured character of the local or national. Audiences preferences across

the different markets are highly concentrated in a handful of dominant corporate

players: Globo TV, Televisa, Univision, RCN, Caracol, Telefe, El Trece, TVN, and

Venevision. The overwhelming dominance of corporations such as Univision,

Televisa, Venevision, and Globo TV in their domestic markets over local/nationalplayers underscores, among other factors, the industrial character of the televisu-

ally proximate fictional cultural product. Arguably, the position of TV Azteca,

Bandeirantes, Televen, Chilevisio n, or Canal 9 as networks lagging in audience

preferences can be explained by the industrial-structural failure in capturing the

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televisual formulas, talent, professionals, and narratives that have made their com-

petitors so successful.

At the same time, circuits of exhibitions have enabled familiarity with the pro-

gramming of certain content producers and networks, becoming in many cases a

second-best option in subregional or regional contexts. At some geographic-

cultural levels and obeying the combined conditions of cross-border/subregional

markets, certain corporations have became the second and sometimes first-best

option after national productions, as exemplified by Globo TVs programming

in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile; RCNs and Caracol TVs production in

Venezuela; and Televisa in the United States. In the construction of regionally

cultural proximate products, programming from Televisa, Globo TV, or

Venevision became the most visible face of a familiar televisual grammar through-

out the region; the production strategies of the Telemundo network with Mexicanand Colombian content producers and networks are positioning the U.S. Hispanic

network as a new familiar face at hemispheric levels.

Furthermore, a particular trend within the last decade has been the incursion of

U.S. global conglomerates within the telenovela industry, long considered a Latin

American genre, where Sony, Viacom/MTV and Nickelodeon, Disney/ABC,

Comcast/NBC, and NewsCorp/Fox are producing series and telenovelas with

local talent and local narratives in Latin American countries. They have wrapped

their fictional programming in national or regional cultural flavor with great suc-

cess and visibility. The traditional analysis of programming flows from the West tothe Rest is complicated by the emergence of transnational players operating in the

Global South. While culture is the leading factor in making content relevant for

audiences within the region, Latin American television production strategies and

programming is increasingly the product of an economic, corporate, and industrial

infrastructure integrated by national producers, transnational investors, and global

media corporations.

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