Rodolfo Martinez ESPN Deportes
ESPN Deportes, born in January 2004, which celebrated its 14th anniversary of operations this year, has exponentially increased its production of live shows.
“In 2004 we opened SportsCenter and did two, half-hour shows a day, half an hour of Fútbol Picante. We had the rights of LaLiga. Rights come and go. Now, we have a substantial offer from the Mexican League. Today, we start from 9am to 10am with SportsCenter AM; from 10 to 12, Raza Deportiva; from 12 to 2pm, SportsCenter; from 2 to 3pm Fútbol Picante; from 3 to 4pm Capitanes; from 4 to 7pm, Jorge Ramos y Su Banda; from 7 to 7:30pm, Cronómetro; from 7:30 a 8:30pm, Nación. We went from one hour to around 10 hours per day. This gives a new dimension to the channel, and proves how we can have an authentic version of what is going on in sports around the world through these studio shows,” commented Rodolfo Martínez, Production VP at ESPN International and ESPN Deportes in the context of a visit from Hispanic media to the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.
For his part, Fernando Palomo, soccer commentator of the channel, expressed: “We started in 2004 with a channel that today many want to imitate. We have grown as a channel and in our journalistic values.”
When consulted on his position regarding OTTs, Martínez emphasized that the company is multiplatform. “What we do is available in each device and then I believe the ESPN app is the answer to what we have been able to do technologically: offering short format content, and our channel in other products through WATCH and ESPN+,” he added. He highlighted that for the future they have plans to include more ESPN Deportes content on the ESPN+ platform.
