The AzA Gazette AZTECA AMERICA

The Azteca America Monthly Newsletter for Clients, Friends and Associates

August 2003 ¥ Number 9 ¥ Year 1

TV Azteca has changed the way tele- • Alumni Give Signing Tour in San José p. 4 Events & vision is done in . It’s clear that Features • First Homenaje Pays Tribute to Celia Cruz p. 6 the industry today is more dynamic, competitive, entertaining and impar- tial. Now the challenge shifts to TV Azteca changing the way television is done Celebrates its in the US Hispanic market. Two-thirds of the Hispanic population 10th Anniversary are of Mexican origin. And many of them recognize the TV Azteca logo This August TV Azteca celebrates for the innovation it represents. ten years. The story begins in 1993, when a group of investors, led by This is a good starting point for our Ricardo B. Salinas, purchased a te- team at Azteca America, and it’s a levision station from the Mexican great honor to entertain and inform government for US$643 million. the Hispanic community by bringing Ten Years in a a fresh point of view. The acquisition was a risky move for control of several broadcasting Nutshell In this month’s Gazette, we are fea- licenses and obsolete broadcasting This August our parent company, TV turing several network promotional equipment. And, at the time, tele- Azteca, celebrates its first ten years of activities, such as the transmission of vision in Mexico was an industry changing the way Spanish-language Ventaneando from Caesar’s Palace in completely monopolized by television is done. Las Vegas and an autograph signing . of La Academia stars in San José. We A decade ago Ricardo B. Salinas took look forward to more of such activities a big gamble. Without any previous as we continue to grow. broadcasting experience, he led a group of investors to win the govern- Today we greet you, and wish to share ment auction of a group of broad- with you the next ten years of our casting licenses and some crippled journey. It will be a decade of shared television equipment. Working success in the Hispanic market. against an absolute television monopoly, we faced a daunting chal- Thank you for accompanying us, lenge that would have paralyzed Luis J. Echarte almost anyone… except for the folks President and CEO continued p. 3 at TV Azteca. Azteca America Network

Station Spotlight: Azteca 54• Los Angeles 2 Mexican Soccer Returns 4 Ventaneando Broadcasts from Vegas 5 Wins the 5 Names & Faces • Elisa Salinas 6 AzA Coverage / Contacts Content 8

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concept, offering combined soccer dominance in program- Station experience of 15 years in local ming. sales. His Megaplaza concept Spotlight: created a central regional sales In September, the station should area that to date accounts for have its local news show, with Azteca Channel 54 about half of all of Azteca’s local two daily versions. And follow- sales in Mexico. ing the launch of the newscast (KAZA-TV) Hechos 54, Eduardo plans to launch a local entertainment Los Angeles talk show. He describes the for- mula as a cross between Eduardo Urbiola Ventaneando and Con sello de CEO Mujer.

With just over a month since TV “The idea is to have program- Azteca assumed managerial ming that is 100% angelina, and control of Pappas Telecasting’s that really brings artists close to KAZA-TV station in Los Angeles, the audience here,” said station CEO Eduardo Urbiola Eduardo. already has a detailed roadmap of where he wants to take the He says the two things that were station. immediately apparent upon his arrival in Los Angeles were the “In the very short term we are enormous opportunity for a solidifying our position as one of market open to new alternatives the top three Hispanic television and the exceptional support that stations in Los Angeles,” said local viewers have for Azteca. Eduardo. “From there, there’s nowhere to go but up.” Although Azteca 54 is already a “The expectations are great, and high-power station with full we aim to deliver results,” he His strategy is based on the pil- cable coverage, Eduardo says he added. lars of sales, transmission quali- is nonetheless refining some of ty, promotion, and program- the transmission equipment to To date, early ratings informa- ming. guarantee an even sharper tion has already been encourag- image quality for his viewers. ing. In just over a month of To expand the advertising base operations, he said that average at Azteca 54, one of the first Promotion will be mostly cen- audience viewership has more steps will be to grow the sales tered on print advertising and than doubled. team. Of an initial team of on-screen promotions. However, seven, Eduardo plans to beef up Eduardo also plans to tap into Great luck to you Eduardo and the team to 15, including sales Azteca’s talent pool of singers, the entire team at Azteca 54!!! managers Alberto Ezquerro and actors and soccer pros to push Guillermo Reynal, who have the station beyond its peers. been tapped from TV Azteca’s home office. Recognizing the importance of sports, Azteca 54 already has a Building out local sales teams is Sunday sports show in the pilot nothing new for Eduardo. With stage and should be on the air initial experience in radio sales, within two weeks. Aside from a he has been with Azteca for heavy dose of Mexican soccer, seven years and was responsible the show will also focus on the for the creation and develop- Central American leagues, ment of Azteca’s Megaplaza strengthening Azteca America

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continued from p. 1 We found that with logic, determi- less communications industry and nation, and guts we could gain a e-business acquiring 50% of the Ricardo B. Salinas had no previous solid position in the market. We ownership stake of Unefon and experience in broadcasting. improved the choices available for Todito.com, respectively. However, he was true to a vision, the public and grew across the entire standing by his belief that the gamut of programming in every day- Despite several failed attempts, we country needed change, as clients part and every genre. In the end, had yet to service the country with were ready for an alternative and competition made everybody a win- the fourth largest Hispanic popula- viewers were anxious for a fresh ner, especially Mexican viewers. They tion in the world: the United point of view. So, we took a big now have more information, better States. Here we took a risk and gamble…and won! quality entertainment and, more decided to enter not only as a con- importantly, the option to choose. tent provider, but as a fully-fledged More than one onlooker thought network. Again, we are taking we should have all been interned. Of our many advertising innova- on another Goliath with However, we went ahead and tions, we were the first to Televisa’s cousin Univision. began local operations in 1994, guarantee rat- launching Hechos, an impartial and ing points for We launched Azteca America in July credible newscast. To continue with media cam- 2001 in Los Angeles. Today, our consolidation process, we began paigns, offering Azteca America covers producing our own television con- unmatched advertiser 63% of the total Hispanic tent, and in 1996 we launched flexibility, and institut- television households, and Azteca Digital, a state-of-the-art dig- ed a marketing is the fastest growing net- ital production center, and produced approach to the con- work in the United States. our first novela: Nada Personal. tent production process; moves that We have a lot to be proud The success of our in-house pro- caused our competi- of! We currently have a 40% ductions surpassed expectations tor to rethink its business audience share in Mexico, and and we went on to produce Al practices. a track record of a network Norte del Corazón, Demasiado that accomplishes chal- Corazón, La Chacala and Mirada de And we never forgot our lenging goals. Aside from Mujer. The latter made television commitment to Mexican share, we are one of the history by breaking sterotypes and society. In 1997, we most efficient TV companies in bringing to the screen controversial created Fundación the world, with an 48% EBIT- themes never before portrayed in Azteca, a non-profit DA or Earning Before Interest, Mexican television. At the same organization dedicated to Taxes, Depreciation and time, we launched our own acting improve social and environ- Amortization margin over school, Centro de Formación mental consciousness, with total revenue. Every year Actoral (CEFAC), where such top an emphasis on health, we invest around US$250 stars such as Barbara Mori and nutrition and education. million in production resulting in Silvia Navarro were launched. The organization operates more than 8,000 hours of origi- under the premise of pro- nal programming, exporting our At this point, TV Azteca’s in-house viding society with tools content to more than 90 coun- production expanded to include nov- for self-improvement tries. elas, newscasts and entertainment rather than charity, shows that had proven to be success- and has touched the TV Azteca has evolved from a ful among viewers, and in three years lives of millions of network with negligible market our advertising client portfolio grew , as well as having share and paltry in-house pro- from 52 to 290 accounts. In 1997, TV piloted several projects for US duction, into the second- Azteca carried out an Initial Public Hispanics. largest producer of Spanish Offering (IPO) in the Bolsa Mexicana language television in the de Valores (BMV: TVAZTCA) and list- TV Azteca’s long term project world. We look forward to sim- ed its American Depositary Receipts did not end with the consoli- ilar successes in our next ten years. (ADRs) on the New York Stock dation of the network. In 1999 Exchange (NYSE: TZA). and 2000, we entered the wire- Let’s Celebrate!!!!

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tournament began the first week Mexican Soccer of play with mixed results. La Academia Monarcas Morelia tied with Returns!! Irapuato (1-1); lost to Alumni Give Cruz Azul (0-1); tied with The preferred sport of Hispanics is the Tecos (1-1); and Universidad Signing Tour back after a short summer break de Nuevo Leon beat (1-0). following the Liguilla final tourna- in San José ment. Azteca’s own Monarcas Morelia remains our favorite for the season. La Academia fans packed Last weekend the Mexican Soccer Although they finished the closing retailer Mervyn’s store in East League resumed play. During the tournament as runners up after San José to get a glimpse and month of August there will be a falling to the Monterrey Rayados, hopefully an autograph of total of 49 matches, of which 20 they still had the best regular sea- successful participants in will be aired by Azteca America, son and finished first in points lead- Azteca’s reality show La more matches than any other net- ing into the tournament. Academia. work in the U.S. A quick rundown of remaining A signing session began at The four finalist of last season’s August matches: midday on August 3, and over 2,500 fans attended a gala event that included August Home Visitor Hour CST autographs and distribution of Azteca America promo- 9 MONARCAS vs QUERETARO 5:00 p.m. tional material. 10 PACHUCA vs TIGRES 12:00 p.m. 10 TECOS vs IRAPUATO 4:00 p.m. Present were Alejandra 10 SANTOS vs NECAXA 4:00 p.m. Ordanza (participant in the 16 CRUZ AZUL vs ATLAS 5:00 p.m. second generation), José 17 TECOS vs MONTERREY 12:00 p.m. Antonio de la O (participant 17 IRAPUATO vs QUERETARO 2:00 p.m. in the first generation and the 17 VERACRUZ vs AMERICA 4:00 p.m. character of Federico in 23 MONARCAS vs TOLUCA 5:00 p.m. Enamórate) and Manuel 24 PACHUCA vs CHIVAS 12:00 p.m. Mancillas (finalist in the sec- 24 QUERETARO vs TIGRES 2:00 p.m. ond generation). 24 SANTOS vs PUMAS 4:00 p.m. 30 VERACRUZ vs SAN LUIS 5:00 p.m. We look forward to further 30 CRUZ AZUL vs SANTOS 5:00 p.m. similar events throughout the 31 IRAPUATO vs TIGRES 2:00 p.m. year. 31 TECOS vs ATLAS 4:00 p.m.

Manuel Alejandra José Antonio

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Sunday concert series Homenaje. Ventaneando Yahir Shines The musical show will honor an established artist or composer Storms Caesar’s Brightest in each week by featuring his or her most favored song list performed Palace in Vegas Desafío de by ten lucky former La Academia contestants. Celia Cruz was the Estrellas honored artist on Sunday follow- ing her death.

Following months of weekly Watch Homenaje every Sunday on singing competitions, Yahir Othón Azteca America at Parra (Yahir) was crowned king of 7PM PST and TV Azteca’s musical showdown CST, and 8 Desafío de Estrellas. Monterrey’s PM EST. Parque Fundidora was home to Ventaneando, TV Azteca’s premier the winner-take-all five-singer entertainment gossip show, final with a crowd of over 15,000 proved that its attraction trans- in attendance. In the end, Yahir lates well beyond the Rio Grande walked away with $600,000 in as it transmitted live from Caesar’s cash, a fully-furnished house, a Palace on July 9, 10 and 11. VW Sharan van, and 30 nights of free hospitality in the Quinta Real The show’s cast, including Pati hotels of his choice. Chapoy, Mónica Garza, Aurora Valle and Daniel Bisogno were all The Desafío victory was the latest present in a week that including a gem in the crown of Yahir, who special recognition by Las Vegas was a contracted singer in a hotel Mayor Oscar Goodman, who in Tijuana before participating in declared July 9, 10, and 11 as offi- TV Azteca’s starmaker reality show cial Ventaneando Days in Las La Academia. He finished as run- Vegas. The cast of Ventaneando ner up, but a resulting record con- was also presented an award by tract pushed his Alucinado album the Comité Patriótico Mexicano to platinum sales, and also helped for its achievements in the enter- him clinch the leading role in tainment industry. Azteca’s hit novela Enamórate.

Programming highlights included Second and third-place finishers an exclusive interview with Celine of Desafío de Estrellas were Nadia Dion, who headlines the shows at and Myriam, respectively. Myriam’s Caesar’s newly constructed third place finish was a disap- Coliseum, as well as news scoops pointment for many of her home- on upcoming concert dates at the town Monterrey fans, since she Coliseum for Gloria Estefan and finished in first place in the final of Alejandro Fernández. the first generation of La Academia. Fourth and fifth place Special thanks to everyone at finishes went to Estrella and Erika, KHDF TV channel 19 for helping respectively. make this event a reality. All 30 original La Academia con- Don’t miss Ventaneando weekdays testants will be eligible through a at 6 PM PST and CST, and 7 PM EST. weekly drawing to participate in a

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She brings a long history of pro- Names & Faces gramming success, having pro- duced such hits as: Señora, El General Candidato, Con toda el Alma, Al Director of Norte del Corazón, La Chacala, Rivales por Accidente, Como en el Azteca America cine, and Enamórate.

in Los Angeles Her responsibilities for the net- work will include both produc- Elisa Salinas tion and promotion, and will also play a key role in the local As general director of Azteca production of Los Angeles sta- America in Los Angeles, Elisa tion KAZA Channel 54. will be putting a long history of programming success behind Prior to joining TV Azteca nine the network. years ago as vice president of novelas, Ms. Salinas launched Ms. Salinas, mother of four chil- several successful fashion ven- dren, was formerly the general tures in the United States and director of TV Azteca’s novela Mexico, including a 30-store factory Azteca Novelas –former- chain of footware, and later an ly Azteca Digital. haute couture boutique on New York’s Madison Avenue.

Alejandro, , and entertainers are selected along First Homenaje Spanish superstars Camilo with respective song lists. The Sesto, Miguel Bosé and winner of each Homenaje pro- Pays Tribute to Alejandro Sanz. gram is determined through audience voting and awarded Celia Cruz Participants for Homenaje are US$10,000 in prize money. selected in a drawing held every Cuban-born singing legend Celia Monday on the morning variety Watch Homenaje every Sunday Cruz received a well-deserved trib- show Cada Mañana, where ten at 7PM PST and CST, 8 PM EST. ute during Azteca’s first Homenaje concert on July 20.

The follow-up series to Desafío de Estrellas, which features the most outstanding La Academia musical reality show participants, is anoth- er example of how Azteca America benefits from the unprecedented success of this young musical talent sensation.

Homenaje features tributes to a different artist or composer every Sunday, and has also included Mexican composer Manuel

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AzA Gazette The Azteca America Newsletter

The Fastest Growing Hispanic Network in the U.S.

Fresno-Visalia Reno Las Vegas Salt Lake City KMSG Channel 55 KUVR Channel 68 KHDF Channel 19 KSVN Channel 66 1.9% 0.3% 0.9% 0.6% Coverage: 63%

San Francisco-Sacramento KTNC Channel 42 5.1% Bakersfield KPMC Channel 42 0.6% New York Monterey WNYN Channel 39 KMCE Channel 43 11.3% 0.6% Santa Barbara KSBT Channel 32 0.4% Orlando W21AU Channel 21 Los Angeles 1.2% KAZA Channel 54 West Palm Beach 16.3% WWHB Channel 48 Albuquerque Palm Springs Wichita 0.6% KQDF Channel 25 KYAV Channel 12 Phoenix KSMI Channel 51 2.1% 0.4% KPSW Channel 43 0.3% Miami 2.5% San Diego San Antonio WPMF Channel 38 Austin KZDF Channel 41 KTDF Channel 18 5.7% Tucson KADF Channel 20 Oklahoma City 2.0% 3.3% KQBN Channel 14 Victoria 1.1% KOHC Channel 38 Houston Ft. Myers 1.0% KBGS Channel 51 0.3% WTPH Channel 14 0.1% KAZH Channel 57 4.1% 0.3% * Note: KTNC-TV 42 covers the San Francisco and Sacramento DMA´s Source: Nielsen Universe Estimates, 2003, Hispanic households.

Contacts: Executives: Operations: About TV Azteca Luis J. Echarte Jorge Jaidar President and CEO (212) 207-8623 TV Azteca, listed on both the (212) 207-8839 011(5255) 3099-5739 Mexican Bolsa and the New York 011(5255) 3099-5777 [email protected] Stock Exchange, is the second largest producer of Spanish-language pro- Sales: Distribution and Affiliate Relations: gramming in the world, and one of Luis M. Cortés Phillip Woodie two nationwide broadcasters in (212) 207-8839 (212) 207-8535 Mexico. [email protected] 011(5255) 3099-9256 [email protected] Today TV Azteca broadcasts four net- KAZA Channel 54, L.A. works: the family-driven Azteca 13, Editorial Committee Eduardo Urbiola with 278 signals in Mexico; the Héctor Romero (818) 241-5400 youth-focused Azteca 7, with 270 Daniel McCosh [email protected] signals in Mexico; Azteca Linda Garcidueñas International for 13 countries in Elena Arceo Central and South America; and Luis M. Cortés Azteca America the fastest growing Juan Pablo Álvarez network in the U.S. Samantha Pescador A Grupo Salinas Company Carmen Lawrence www.gruposalinas.com.mx

This document does not constitute, nor shall it be construed under any circumstances, as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy Azteca America Network's signal, programming or any of its parts thereof. www.aztecaamerica.com 8