De La Hoya announces the launch of network

Oscar De La Hoya announced last week that he is launching his own network.  De La Hoya TV will debut this spring as announced at the National Association of Television Program Executives annual conference in Miami.  The network will offer combat sports including boxing, MMA as well as features on sports and lifestyle that will cater to the burgeoning Hispanic population in the United States.

No word on where you may find De La Hoya TV as the head of Golden Boy Promotions and his partner in the venture, Jose Alberto “Pepe” Gomez are still talking to cable and satellite systems about carriage deals.  Per ESPN, there are no plans for the channel to include live sports programming.

The network will be based in Miami and will focus on Spanish-language content for the U.S. Hispanic market.

Payout Perspective:

This is an interesting business venture for De La Hoya and perhaps just an expansion of his personal brand.  The network states that it will offer boxing and MMA although there is no word on whether it has worked out any contracts with any existing organizations.  Certainly, De La Hoya’s network will join some competition for the Hispanic market as Nuvo TV and the El Rey Network are two of the newer networks looking for a Hispanic audience.  The big question will be whether it can be picked up by a cable and satellite system and how many households it can get into.