• by Wayne Friedman , July 12, 2010

Fox Sports En Español will become more efficient with its new network name. This fall, the 14-year-old network will be called Fox Deportes.

"We recently conducted extensive audience research in which the majority of the respondents referred to the network simply as Fox Deportes," stated Vincent Cordero, the executive vice president and general manager.

"Changing the name recognizes that fact, establishes greater consistency with the better-known Fox Sports brand and allows for easier cross-network promotion and marketing," Cordero said. Hispanic channel fans had been calling the network Fox Deportes for some time.

The network says viewer research found that the Fox Sports and Fox Deportes brands already offer strong connections, and that "it would be a service for the Hispanic sports fans to rename the channel Fox Deportes to complete the link."

Fox Sports has given affiliates 90-day notice of the upcoming changes, when a new logo and graphics will be revealed.

Fox Sports En Español -- which reaches more than 18 million homes, 6 million of which are U.S. Hispanic -- airs soccer leagues, including Fútbol Liga Mexicana, Barclays Premier League, Italian Serie A, UEFA Champions League, Copa Santander Libertadores and Copa Nissan Sudamericana. It also runs Major League Baseball, championship boxing and mixed-martial arts programming, such as the UFC.

Fox Deportes' name will now more closely resemble other sports Spanish-language channels, such as ESPN Deportes.