MundoMax — formerly MundoFox, which rebranded in August after the dissolution of Fox International Channels’s joint-venture partnership with Colombia's RCN — has taken on sales and marketing duties for two key affiliates owned by Southern California-based Meruelo Media.
Effective Aug, 31, KWHY — perhaps MundoMax's biggest affiliate outside of Miami — and KUCN in Houston will no longer have autonomy over their advertising and promotional efforts. Existing station management will now work in concert with MundoMax network executives, under their direction.
MundoMax will base its sales operation in New York, with sales bureaus in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.
The moves are meant to help MundoMax attain “maximum sustainable growth in each market,” based on necessary investments and repositioning from MundoFox, MundoMax president Ibra Morales said.
“We enthusiastically welcome this new partnership with MundoMax in Los Angeles and Houston,” Meruelo Media president Otto Padron said. “We are confident that this new operational framework will give MundoMax real-time flexibility and the potential for greater success in these two very competitive markets.”
Overseeing the new sales structure for MundoMax is Edward Jimenez, MundoFox’s former vice president of national sales. He will work with alongside Tom Maney, the executive vice president of Fox Hispanic Networks, who will remain in an advisory role with MundoMax for the near future.
Separately, an overhaul of the news department has already yielded a tease to what lies ahead in 2016: MundoMax has introduced 60-second local and national news briefs that will air during commercial breaks anchored by former KWHY lead anchor Palmira Pérez. MundoMax will officially unveil its first post-MundoFox network newscasts next year.
