The same month Romano took the reins
at Telemundo from highly regarded Don
Browne, the network acquired exclusive
Spanish-language U.S. media rights to
the FIFA World Cup from 2015 through
2022 for a reported $600 million.
One of the fastest-growing broadcast
networks, Telemundo, in acquiring the World Cup—along with the
CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean
Association Football) Olympic qualifier events for London 2012—is signaling
it’s gunning to be the top Spanish-language net, a title currently held
by Univision. Under Romano’s leadership, 2011 marked Telemundo’s best
primetime performance ever; it’s on track to repeat the numbers in 2012,
with Telemundo delivering its best January yet. Romano also has oversight
of bilingual cable network mun2, which like Telemundo delivered its best
year in ’11. Romano, who has held leadership positions in Hispanic business
sectors his whole career, seems poised to continue the trend.
