• Los Angeles Times , Friday, November 23, 2007 11:30 AM

Cultural fusion is becoming an increasingly typical demographic. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1 in 5 U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 is Latino. Garcia and Rodriguez are now among the top 10 most common surnames in the nation. At least 50,000 Latinos in the U.S. turn 18 each month, UCLA demographer Leo Estrada estimates.

Media companies and advertisers are grappling with whether to reach this growing audience in Spanish or English. Most efforts to date have been focused on Spanish. But some believe that strategy misses the sweet spot because it fails to recognize that the majority of Latinos living in the U.S. are bilingual and speak predominantly in English, while at the same time retaining their cultural roots.

Hoping to tap this rich, dual cultural vein, four fledgling networks are feeling their way to this elusive audience by targeting Latino viewers in English rather than Spanish. The biggest players are Mun2, operated by NBC Universal's Telemundo unit; and MTVTr3s, owned by Viacom Inc. Two other English-language networks, SiTV and LATV, lack the backing of media giants.

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