• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 7, 2009

A 2-year-old rep firm has purchased contracts that add dozens of Spanish-language stations to its portfolio. Cross MediaWorks' acquisition primarily allows it to handle national spot sales for affiliates of the Azteca America network, a distant competitor to Univision and Telemundo.

In the deal, Cross MediaWorks acquires both the Azteca spot sales operation and Hispanic Independent Television Sales (HITS) for as much as $150,000. The acquisition comes from the trustees handling the bankruptcy proceedings of Interep, the former leading radio rep firm that had moved into representing Hispanic TV stations in 2005.

In addition to the slew of Azteca affiliates, Cross MediaWorks now also sells for the five stations that make up the TuVision network, owned by Pappas Telecasting, and the Mega TV outlet in South Florida owned by Spanish Broadcasting System.

Funded by private-equity dollars, CrossMedia was formed in 2007 and has now made five acquisitions. Its representation in Hispanic media also includes MSOs' inventory on cable networks. Overall, the company says it works on behalf of 400 stations, although it declined to provide specifics.

While Spanish-language TV has been hurt by the recession along with the general market, Cross MediaWorks COO Larry Rubin said: "The company that is able to grow its business in opportunistic ways in the most difficult of times is going to be the company best-positioned to succeed in better times."