Manuel Abud, president and CEO of Azteca
Azteca America unveiled its 2014-2015 programming lineup at its annual Upfront presentation in New York. The network announced the return of one of Mexico’s legendary teams, Santos, to Azteca’s Liga MX lineup. Azteca revealed that this fall the network will create a new sports franchise, Friday Night Futbol, with two live primetime games every Friday night to kick off the weekend. “We’re thrilled to have Santos join our already strong lineup of teams and to bring viewers to what will be appointment television for Hispanic soccer fans”, said Manuel Abud, president and CEO of Azteca. On the novela front, Azteca is launching an original super production Las Bravo featuring Edith González, Mauricio Islas and Saúl Lizaso. The novela is the story of Valentina Bravo and her three daughters whose sheltered world falls apart with the death of the family’s patriarch. Left behind with an exorbitant debt, the four women are forced to push aside their pride and get their hands dirty managing a strip club for women. Azteca is breaking new ground by introducing a new comedy format to Hispanic audiences: El Club del Chiste. “It will be the first step in a new strategy to create several quality comedy franchises”, said Margarita Black, VP of Programming. The network introduced a new special awards program Premio Mujer that recognizes the outstanding achievement of Hispanic Women in the US. Azteca returning hits include La Academia Kids,Ventaneando, Venga la Alegríaand Al Extremo.
Manuel Abud named president and Chief Executive Officer of Azteca America