ABOUT THIS BOOK

How Spanish-language television networks continue to thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape.

The US television industry has suffered blow after blow amid media convergence and the rise of streaming. Those legacy broadcasters that survive are much diminished and highly dependent on live programming—the last redoubt of old media. There is an exception, though: Spanish-language television is thriving.

Spanish-Language Television surveys the Latinx media landscape to better appreciate why Univision and Telemundo have flourished while others faltered. Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago and Jillian M. Báez show that the major Spanish-language networks are unusually flexible and open to innovation in hopes of reaching new demographics. Univision and Telemundo were early to streaming. To appeal to “billennial” audiences—bilingual millennials—who threatened to stray from TV, they rebuilt the telenovela, which now features social commentary, diverse characters, and genre crossovers. Today’s reality programs defy old norms of linguistic correctness, and the airwaves are becoming less hospitable to racism and sexism, resulting in rising ratings and ad revenues. The first book-length treatment of reception patterns in Latinx TV, Spanish-Language Television deepens our understanding of new media in a moment of transformation and possibility.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago is a professor of Communication and Culture at Arizona State University. He also serves as the vice dean at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts. He is the author of Puerto Rican Soldiers and Second-Class Citizenship: Representations in Media.

Jillian M. Báez is an associate professor in the Africana, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies Department at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is also on the doctoral faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of In Search of Belonging: Latinas, Media, and Citizenship.

REVIEWS

Jillian Báez and Manuel Avilés-Santiago offer an authoritative and insightful lens for this pivotal work. Spanish-Language Television: Cultural and Industrial Transformations presents a powerful case for the creation of a distinct subfield within media studies and Latinx media studies focused on Spanish-language television. Readers gain a deep understanding of how Spanish was central to the foundation of Spanish-language television, while also tracing the ways in which the language has evolved in tandem with technological advancements, demographic changes, and more. In the end, Báez and Avilés-Santiago reveal how television and its Latinx audience have mutually influenced each other, undergoing a dynamic and reciprocal transformation.

— Dolores Inés Casillas, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Sounds of Belonging: U.S. Spanish-language Radio and Public Advocacy

Spanish-Language Television: Cultural and Industrial Transformations offers insights into pressing challenges within the industry, such as advocating for a more critical examination of Spanish-language television’s approach to race. In this ever-changing panorama, nothing is set in stone. Therefore, Jillian Báez and Manuel Avilés-Santiago provide an outstanding contribution to how we rethink our notions of what television is, who it serves, and how content should be circulated.

— Jessica Retis, University of Arizona, coeditor of Reporting on Latino/a/x Communities: A Guide for Journalists

This volume is the first of its kind to examine this key industry from a media studies perspective.

— CHOICE

Spanish-Language Television provides a timely and much needed intervention written by two mature scholars in the field, whose range of expertise in theory and methods of Latinx Media Studies is evident throughout the manuscript, which seamlessly blends Latinx studies and media studies.

— Critical Studies in Media Communication

Avilés-Santiago and Báez draw on detailed case analyses and carefully conducted focus group research...to reveal the mechanisms that have enabled Spanish-Language Television's (SLTV) continued resilience: remarkable flexibility and adaptability amid changing audiences and advancing technology. This book fills a critical gap in television studies by providing the first book-length analysis of contemporary SLTV industry...The combined lens of Avilés-Santiago's historical-political economic approach and Báez's audience- and gender-focused analysis shapes this work's rigorous, comprehensive, and empathetic style...A key text for understanding Latinx media.

— The Journal of Popular Culture

[Spanish-Language Television] offers a provocative new perspective on the challenges facing the sector. . . This volume provides a robust scholarly contribution to understanding the trends emerging within the Spanish-language audiovisual industry in the United States. Coupled with a critical analysis, the work establishes a framework of growth while underscoring existing gaps and proposing strategic future pathways for the creative industries.

— Critical Studies in Television

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Chapter 1. Speaking To Billennials: Linguistic Flexibility in Reality Television
Chapter 2. Framing Race in Spanish-Language Television
Chapter 3. Latin(¿qué?): Let the Audiences Speak!
Chapter 4. Streaming Media, Nostalgia, and the Future of Spanish-Language Television
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index