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HISPANIC TV UPFRONT REPORT-2017 EDITION HispanicAd.com/HispanicMarketOverview.com
A Star Continues To Grow, In Its Own Unique Way
LBI Media’s Estrella TV has always sought to be an alternative from the big nationally distributed networks. Today, it’s a solid competitor found in more places across the U.S. than ever before, offering programming that makes it a draw unlike any of its primary rivals.
By Adam R Jacobson
On Sept. 14, 2009, Liberman Broadcasting (a.k.a. LBI Media) jumped into the world of network television with the official launch of Estrella TV.
With offices and studios in the Empire Center, located in the heart of Burbank, Calif., the company took the programming model used successfully at its flagship KRCA-62 in Los Angeles and brought it to a national audience.
Just six months later, Estrella TV was included for the first time in Nielsen’s national ratings, gradually gaining audience during the 2010s.
Lenard Liberman Today, Estrella TV has emerged as a network focused on news, live studio entertainment and, to a limited extent, sports.
The growth has not come without extreme challenges. Assuming it could bargain for larger retransmission fees thanks to its ratings at low-power TV stations it owns in Denver, Salt Lake City and Houston, Estrella TV opted to forego must-carry status in these markets.
That resulted in an ugly dispute with Comcast, which dropped the stations on the grounds that it need not carry the stations and that their ratings, according to the MVPD, were low.