Network NBC Format Sports programming Country of origin United States of America | Division of NBC Sports Group Owner Comcast | |
 | ||
Launched 1987 (1987)
(as Deportes Telemundo)
May 12, 2015 (2015-05-12)
(as NBC Deportes)
July 25, 2016 (2016-07-25)
(as Telemundo Deportes) Key people Eli Velazquez (executive vice president, Telemundo Deportes)
Robert Pardo (Vice President of Production Operations, Telemundo Deportes)
Claudio Prizont (Editorial Director, Telemundo Deportes)
Christopher Suarez-Meyers (Director of Operations, Telemundo Deportes)
Gary Zenkel (President, NBC Olympics and Operations, Strategy, NBC Sports Group
Mark Lazarus (chairman, NBC Sports Group) Major broadcasting contracts FIFA World Cup
FIFA Women's World Cup
Olympics
Premier League Headquarters Hialeah, Florida, United States, Stamford, Connecticut, United States Profiles | ||
Telemundo Deportes is the programming division of the NBC Sports Group, owned by the NBCUniversal Television Group division of NBCUniversal, that is responsible for the production of sports events and magazine programs that air on NBCUniversal's Spanish language television networks Telemundo and Universo. Originating as the former's sports division Deportes Telemundo from 1999 to 2015, it broadcasts an array of sports events, including the association football matches from various international soccer leagues and the Olympic Games, among others.
Contents
Origins as Deportes Telemundo
The division was originally formed in 1987 as Deportes Telemundo, which at first exclusively served as the sports division of Telemundo, with the acquisition of rights to soccer matches to select teams from the Mexican Primera División (now Liga MX). Following NBC's $2.7 billion purchase of Telemundo Communications Group on October 11, 2001, Deportes Telemundo began to gradually be integrated into NBC Sports, although it would maintain sports programming rights separate from the main NBC broadcast network and its sister cable channels. Under NBC (which ironically lost the rights to the league that year to ABC), On August 20, 2002, Telemundo signed a three-year agreement with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Spanish language broadcast rights to 15 NBA and up to ten WNBA regular season games; Telemundo and the NBA did not renew the deal upon its expiration following the 2004–05 season.
On August 12, 2009, the division's production responsibilities were extended to sister cable network mun2 (now NBC Universo), when it carried an English language broadcast of a World Cup qualifier between the United States and Mexico national soccer teams, which was broadcast as part of a one-day free preview available to most cable and satellite providers though was presented by NBC Sports; and furthermore in January 2010, when mun2 began airing Liga MX games under the brand Fútbol Mexicano (most of which aired as English language simulcasts of Telemundo's Fútbol Estelar soccer telecasts).
On October 28, 2012, NBC Sports also announced a three-year, $250 million deal to televise Premier League soccer matches, giving Telemundo and mun2 the Spanish language rights (with the latter simulcasting games broadcast in English on NBCSN) beginning with the 2013–14 season, replacing ESPN and Fox Soccer as the league's U.S. broadcasters; prior to the arrangement, NBC had proposed Telemundo for use as a Spanish-language simulcast partner for select sporting events for years after the 2001 purchase.
On July 23, 2013, NBC Sports announced that Telemundo and mun2 would broadcast both NASCAR's regional and national series in Spanish (to which Fox and NBC held English language rights, with NBC acquiring the rights to the series through a new rights deal with NASCAR), beginning with the 2015 NASCAR season. NASCAR subsequently accelerated the start of the deal, allowing mun2 to carry the Toyota Series, a season-opening Mexican championship race sanctioned by NASCAR, live from Phoenix International Raceway during the weekend of the The Profit on CNBC 500 on February 28, 2014.
On October 22, 2011, Deportes Telemundo acquired the Spanish language rights to broadcast the FIFA Men's and Women's World Cup for around $600 million, replacing Univision as the tournament's Spanish language broadcaster, which began carrying the World Cup soccer tournaments in 1978 (Fox acquired the English language U.S. broadcast rights through a separate agreement). The deal, which began with the 2015 Women's World Cup and runs through 2026, includes rights to associated FIFA-sanctioned tournaments (including the Men's Under 20 and Under 17 World Cups, and the Men's Beach Soccer World Cup), which will be telecast on Telemundo and NBC Universo; the deal was extended on February 12, 2015, to include rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Through NBC's rights agreement with the National Football League (NFL), mun2 carried a Spanish simulcast of a Thanksgiving matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers on November 27, 2014; on February 1, 2015, the rebranded NBC Universo served as the Spanish-language broadcaster of Super Bowl XLIX (which NBC held rights to broadcast that year). On January 13, 2015, NBCUniversal promoted Deportes Telemundo senior vice president of sports Eli Velázquez to the newly created position of Executive Vice President, Sports within the company's Hispanic Enterprises and Content unit, following the departure of the sports division's executive vice president Jorge Hidalgo (whose position was eliminated as part of restructuring of the division).
Replacement by NBC Deportes
On May 16, 2015, during Telemundo's 2015–16 upfront presentation in New York City, NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises and Content and NBC Sports Group announced the creation of a new sports production unit, NBC Deportes, which would assume the sports production responsibilities held by Deportes Telemundo. A spokesperson for NBCUniversal stated that NBC Deportes, which will be aligned closer with the English-language NBC Sports division, is not a rebranding of Deportes Telemundo, and instead operates as a newly created unit that will be responsible for sports content for Telemundo, NBC Universo and related digital platforms. Although the spokesperson also stated that "Deportes Telemundo” may continue to exist as an on-air brand on Telemundo, the NBC Deportes branding and logo (a modified version of the existing NBC Sports logo in use since 2013) was implemented on all sports events and related programming seen on the network. While NBC Deportes retained all existing sports telecast rights and programs aired by both Telemundo and NBC Universo, the latter network also began to expand its sports coverage, primarily in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics and the start of the division's contract with FIFA—whose first events included the 2015 U-20 World Cup and Women's World Cup.
On August 26, 2015, NBCUniversal announced that NBC Deportes would migrate its operations from Telemundo's headquarters in Hialeah, Florida to NBC Sports Group's facility in Stamford, Connecticut in a phased process that is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Around 70 employees, including production staff and on-air talent, were given a month to decide if they want to remain with NBC Deportes and relocate to Stamford, providing relocation packages to employees who opt to move and severance packages to employees who chose not to move and are unable to find other jobs within NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises and Content; most positions within NBC Deportes that were based in the Hialeah offices – with the exception of NBCDeportes.com digital staff, some tech operators employed with the sports unit and production and on-air staff for the late-night magazine program Titulares y Más, which will remain at the Telemundo headquarters – were eliminated in the move, necessitating the employee offers. Around 30 additional staffing positions are expected to be added alongside the existing employees upon the move to Stamford, while the division will invest heavily in the division's infrastructure and sets for its news and analysis programs.
Programs throughout the years
NBC Deportes holds the sports broadcast rights to several sporting events (with much of its programming available through agreements with association football leagues and organizations) for broadcast on Telemundo and NBC Universo, and also produces sports news, magazine and analysis programs that mostly air on Telemundo. It also produces several specials in conjunction with organizations to which NBC Sports maintains programming agreement such as the National Football League (NFL).
Current broadcast rights
Events which are held by NBC Sports for their English language channels are designated in Italics.