Cable channel mun2, the leading name in bilingual, bicultural programming in the U.S., seems poised for a change with the appointment of Ruben Mendiola as its president this week.
Mendiola, who was most recently SVP and GM of multicultural services for Comcast Cable, will report to Joe Uva, Chairman, Hispanic Enterprises and Content for NBCUniversal, mun2’s parent company. NBCUniversal, which also owns Spanish language network Telemundo, is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast.
“Ruben’s expertise and deep understanding of the U.S. Hispanic market will play an essential role in evolving this cable property into the future,” said Uva in a statement. “He and his team will develop and acquire content to build a relevant, high demand general entertainment cable network for the rapidly expanding U.S. Hispanic audience.”
Mun2, initially launched as GEMS television before being purchased by Telemundo in 2001 and becoming mun2, was the first network to truly gain traction as a bilingual, bicultural vehicle for young Hispanics. It is home to pioneering reality shows featuring Latin music stars like Jenni Rivera’s “I Love Jenni” and Larry Hernandez’s “Larrymania.”
Most recently, the channel was headed by EVP/GM Diana Mogollón, who departed her post in February amid chatter that the channel was going to undergo programming changes.
Now, Mendiola will focus on “developing and driving the cable channel’s overall strategy and programming, and provide operational leadership across the business,” according to an announcement. He will also look for opportunities to expand distribution. (Mendiola wasn’t available for comment at press time).
During his tenure in Comcast, Mendiola launched Xfinity Latino Entertainment Channel, upping it from an interactive channel that provides programming updates to a destination for live and exclusive English and Spanish-language programming.