DishLATINO does not rule out bringing LAS to the U.S. in the future

(Maribel Ramos-Weiner). In an effort to offer better programming alternatives and trying to fill a vacuum in the market, DISH launched Latin America Sports (LAS) in Puerto Rico.Rubén Mendiola, General Manager of DishLATINO said to PRODU that LAS is very important to the company. “We have been planning and developing this channel for years. I believe we had the opportunity, like we have had before, to see a real market need and fulfill it, and get the project going,” he added.Mendiola does not rule out launching the channel in the U.S. Hispanic market. “We created it as a channel for Puerto Rico, but the response has been so overwhelming that we could possibly launch the channel in the U.S. in the future. We have the exclusive rights to do it,” he said.According to Mendiola, LAS will include commercials and there already is great interest on the part of advertisers, not only for placing ads but also sponsoring their tournaments.Just as an example of the great collection of sports programming featured on LAS, Mendiola indicated that each year the channel will air 300 games that were previously not produced. “Just in winter baseball we’re increasing the visibility of televised games by 600%,” he added.“The Mexican group AyM was the ideal partner to produce the channel and Alterna´TV, the leading distributor of pay-TV channels in Latin America and the U.S., provided us with the technical facilities that made this great marriage possible,” said Mendiola.