• by Fern Siegel , April 30, 2008

LATV, a digital bilingual entertainment and music network, has struck a distribution partnership with Tribune Broadcasting, bringing stations in New York, Chicago and Dallas into its affiliate fold. The move puts LATV programming in an additional 9 million TV households. 

The Tribune alliance also places LATV in nine of the top 10 Hispanic television markets and six of the top DMAs.

"In less than one year, LATV's affiliate roster has jumped from five stations to 33 across the nation," said Howard Bolter, LATV president and COO. "Tribune had many emerging network options available to put on their digital multicast spectrum and chose LATV, validating our rapid and successful rise in the TV landscape."

The new Tribune Broadcasting affiliates are: New York (WPIX), Chicago (WGN) and Dallas (KDAF). The markets are rated No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6 in the Hispanic market, respectively. Bolter adds that the agreements are "especially valuable" because the Tribune stations are top-ranked in each city. In addition to the Tribune Broadcasting stations, LATV recently affiliated with San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (KTVU-TV, Fox), a Cox-owned station, and Jacksonville, FL (WJXT, independent), LATV's fifth Post-Newsweek affiliate.

LATV currently has 33 affiliations across the country in 19 of the top 25 Hispanic TV markets. LATV is also carried on basic cable through its affiliates and in Los Angeles on KJLA, via cable, broadcast and DBS. Ad-supported LATV specializes in targeting the 18-34 Latino with music, lifestyle and entertainment programming. Post-Newsweek Stations has a minority-ownership interest in the company. The company also owns LatiNation, which syndicates the "American Latino TV" and "LatiNation" shows.