Univision and Disney's announcement this month that they
were in talks to launch an English-language cable news network for Hispanics
was music to the ears of smaller channels that cater to the bilingual, bicultural
crowd.
"Every one of these types of announcements actually helps
us," Charlie Singer, senior vice president of content and creative for Viacom's
Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas network. "While we do not compete in the news segment,
this goes to show you the power of these young adults, who move comfortable in
two languages."
In fact, Tr3s doesn't even bother to define itself as an
English network, but a bilingual one; one that caters to a crowd that will
comfortably switch from one language to the other.
For instance, its upcoming documentary series, The Ricardo
Laguna Project (premiering March 14), features the 28-year-old Mexican-American
entrepreneur and bicycle motocross champion moving between his all-American
lifestyle and his Spanish-dominant, conservative Mexican-born parents in their
Las Vegas home.
Singer refuses to call the eight-episode series, produced by
actor Wilmer Valderrama, a reality show. ("No one is being voted off an island
or anything, he said.)
Rather, the Project will document the days and nights of a
young Hispanic man who was recently named one of the hottest bachelors in
Vegas.
"When Wilmer pitched
us the project, we jumped on it, because it documents perfectly the experience
of living in two cultures," Singer, who confesses a passion for stories that
depict the bicultural, binational world in which his viewers live, said.
Another project in the works is Dulce María: Extranjera, which will follow the hardships of Mexican
singer-actress Dulce María (former RBD star) in her goal to make it in
Hollywood from getting herself a U.S. driver's license to landing a job in
Tinseltown. Dulce María is scheduled
to premiere June 13.
Tr3s will hold its upfront in New York on May 16.
