• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 20, 2007

As cable and satellite operators try to outfox each other by offering more ethnic channels to boost subscriber rolls, DirecTV added two Spanish-language networks to its lineup this week--a local broadcast channel in a leading market and a network geared toward Dominicans living in the U.S.

In the Philadelphia market, DirecTV will now carry the local Azteca America channel. For Azteca, the move gives it exposure in a top-10 market, boosting its availability to 26 in all. The net now reaches 73% of Hispanic TV homes, as it seeks to compete with market-leader Univision and Telemundo.

Azteca is available to DirecTV subscribers in Philadelphia who receive the local channel bundle. Programming includes top Mexican professional soccer.

Separately, Television Dominicana is now available nationwide as part of a Spanish-language tier for an extra monthly fee, giving DirecTV content from the Dominican Republic for the first time. "Our viewers are constantly telling us that our channel offerings help them feel connected with their home countries," said John de Armas, a vice president at DirecTV.

The Dominican programming includes a variety show and magazine show, as well as a program produced specifically for Dominicans living in the U.S.

With the number of TV homes subscribing to multichannel offerings arguably reaching a peak, cable and satellite operators want to peel viewers away from each other by appealing to growing ethnic audiences, using channels to entice them. The stakes are heightened as AT&T and Verizon expand their TelcoTV services and compete for subscribers.

Earlier this year, Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge said the operator in the wider New York market hopes to gain more subscribers by bolstering its foreign-language offerings in the DMA with a heavily multi-ethnic population. Cablevision said it launched 60 foreign-language channels in 2006, with a principal goal of appealing to Spanish speakers.

DirecTV is likely to tap into the growing Spanish-language ad market with the new channels, via its sales of the avails it gets each hour.