tewarner | Principles & Practices

by Tucker Warner

Entravision Communications Corporation logo. Photo courtesy of Entravision.

Entravision Communications Corporation

2425 Olympic Boulevard
Suite 6000 West
Santa Monica, California 90404
Tel: 310-447-3870
Fax: 310-447-3899

Website: http://www.entravision.com

Company Overview:

Entravision Communications Corporation is a media company founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996, and focuses on Spanish-language content designed to appeal to Hispanic Americans. Currently, Entravision owns both radio and television stations, primarily in markets with a large Hispanic influence or population, and has television stations in 19 of the top 50 Hispanic markets in the United States. [1] Their 53 television stations, with only a few exceptions, are affiliates for Spanish language networks, and are the largest affiliate groups for Univision and TeleFutura, two networks owned by the same parent company, Univision Communications, Inc. [2]

The majority of Entravision’s stations are affiliates for Univision. Photo courtesy of Univision.

The deal that Entravision currently has in place with Univision and TeleFutura allows Entravision to have exclusive rights to broadcast those networks in the chosen markets until at least 2021. [3] Entravision also has affiliation agreements with Telemundo, Fox, MyNetworkTV, and The CW, all of which are scheduled to expire by 2015. The Entravision affiliates for these networks are all located in markets with a large Hispanic population.

Financials:

Entravision is a publicly traded company, on the New York Stock Exchange as EVC. The Fall 2012 quarter has been positive for Entravision, as the stock has risen in value from $1.30 to $1.52 as of closing on December 6. This was helped by a large increase in value during sweeps week near the end of November. [4]

Daily stock price (in dollars) of Entravision for the Fall 2012 quarter. Screenshot courtesy of data from the New York Stock Exchange web page.

On December 4, the staff of The Street announced that they had upgraded the rating of Entravision’s stock from “sell” to “hold.” [5] This follows the aforementioned substantial increase in market value at the end of November. As the staff of The Street notes, “[Entravision’s] revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 15.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 16.7%.” [5]

Entravision reported a net revenue of $131,490,000 from the television branch for the 2011 fiscal year. [3] According to the 2011 annual report, television-based revenue does not see much change during non-FIFA World Cup years, but they do expect to report a slight increase in 2012 due to the prevalence of political advertising. [3] The annual report states that about 86% of television-based revenue in 2011 came from advertising, with 40% coming from national advertising. Because of the elections, it is likely that this percentage would have increased in 2012.

Administration:

Walter F. Ulloa has been Chairman and CEO of Entravision since the company’s opening in 1996. [6] Ulloa is still very involved in Entravision’s public dealings, and made a presentation to potential investors in New York, NY on December 4. [7] This presentation was open to the public through a stream linked through the investor information section of Entravision’s web page.

Walter F. Ulloa, Chairman and CEO of Entravision. Photo courtesy of Entravision.

Christopher T. Young is Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and CFO of Entravision. Photo courtesy of Entravision.

Christopher T. Young has worked for Entravision since 2000, taking positions within the outdoor advertising division until 2008, when it was sold to Lamar Advertising Company. [8] Since then, Young has been Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and CFO of the company. Like Ulloa, Young has become somewhat of a public figure on behalf of the company, presenting at both the 40th UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference with Ulloa in New York on December 4th, and also the previous afternoon at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Leveraged Finance Conference in Boca Raton. [7]

Recent Events:

The new logo for XHRIO-TV, Entravision’s MundoFox affiliate in McAllen, Texas. Due to the station’s branding, its callsign appears as XRIO. Photo courtesy of MundoFox and XHRIO-TV.

On August 13, 2012, Fox International Channels and Colombia’s RCN Televisión launched MundoFox, a Spanish-language network with 50 current affiliates in the United States. [9] One of these affiliates is XHRIO-TV, an Entravision station in McAllen, Texas, that was formerly the region’s exclusive Fox affiliate. The transition period has lasted through Fall 2012, as Fox searched for a new network affiliate in the McAllen region, and the Rio Grande Valley area (which contains McAllen) became adjusted to the new network, which stayed on the same channel that housed the previous network tenant of the station.

As part of the company’s increased efforts in creating some consumer loyalty to the parent company, rather than just to the individual stations, Entravision has recently sponsored some charitable and outreach events in cities that have Entravision stations. On November 14, the National Hispanic Media Coalition hosted their annual Impact Awards in Washington, DC, where Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), two Hispanic-Americans, were honored for their service to the Hispanic community. [10] Two of the sponsors for this event were Entravision and MundoFox. Additionally, Entravision’s contributions as media sponsors to Colorado Gives Day 2012, a charity drive within the state of Colorado that raised approximately $15 million for various nonprofit groups, were considered “instrumental” by the organizers of the event. [11] While there were several other media sponsors for both of these events, Entravision’s intent to promote themselves as a company who will help the local communities in many ways was noticed by many members of the public, creating a lot of positive attention for the company and its local affiliates.

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times noticed the role that Hispanic and Spanish television stations had in the election; specifically, how they contributed to high voter turnout within Hispanic communities. [12] The article cites a public service announcement from Natalie Perez (which can be viewed below this paragraph), a news anchor at WVEA-TV, an Entravision affiliate for Univision in the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Florida markets, in which she encourages Hispanic-Americans to vote in the Presidential election. According to Ben Monterroso, executive director at Mi Familia Vota, a nonpartisan voter education group with a specific focus on Hispanic-Americans, the Spanish media “played a tremendous role.” [12] With Entravision being at the forefront of Spanish media in Hispanic markets, it can be said with certainty that a significant part of the media’s influence on the increase in Hispanic voters came in some part because of Entravision’s efforts.

Lorena Inclán changed stations, networks, and languages in moving from Univision’s WVEN (an Entravision station) in Daytona Beach to CBS’s WTEV in Jacksonville. Photo courtesy of WVEN and Univision.

On November 28, Lorena Inclán, a popular on-air journalist newsdesk at WVEN, an Entravision affiliate for Univision in Daytona Beach and Orlando, Florida, officially began her new job at WTEV, the CBS affiliate in Jacksonville. [13] While this is not an event that will cause too much stress to the network itself, it does represent a fear that many Spanish-language media outlets have, especially in television, which is that their top talent will leave for English-language outlets that bring wider exposure and typically a higher salary as well.

More positive news for Entravision came in the form of a station getting television broadcast rights to a college basketball rivalry game. WJAL, an affiliate-independent station owned by Entravision whose signal is broadcast to Hagerstown, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC; northern West Virginia; and in many other neighboring regions, received the rights to broadcast the interstate rivalry game between West Virginia and Marshall. [14] Though WJAL did not receive exclusive rights, WJAL was able to broadcast a high-interest live event- one that is typically picked up by a national sports network- and one that attracts many local viewers.

Sources:

1. Entravision Communications Corporation: Investor Information http://www.entravision.com/investor-info/

2. Entravision Communications Corporation: TV http://www.entravision.com/tv/

3. Entravision 2011 Annual Report http://www.snl.com/IRWebLinkX/corporateprofile.aspx?iid=4121685

4. New York Stock Exchange: Entravision http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=EVC&fq=D&ezd=1Q&index=4

5. The Street update: Entravision http://www.thestreet.com/story/11782384/1/entravision-communications-corporation-stock-upgraded-evc.html

6. Forbes: Walter F. Ulloa http://www.forbes.com/profile/walter-ulloa/

7. Sacramento Bee: Entravision To Present At Investor Conferences http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/30/5020964/entravision-communications-corporation.html

8. Reuters: Entravision Sells Outdoor Advertising Operations http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/19/idUS126783+19-May-2008+PRN20080519

9. RBR.com: MundoFox Launches http://rbr.com/mundofox-launches-across-the-country/

10. El Tiempo Latino: NHMC Holds Impact Awards http://eltiempolatino.com/news/2012/nov/17/coalicion-honra-menendez-y-roybal-allard/

11. Herald Online: Colorado Gives Day Raises Approximately $15 Million http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/12/05/4463187/colorado-gives-day-raises-approximately.html