Bienvenido Tr3s: MTV, Musica & Mas!

NEW YORK and MIAMI, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV Tr3s, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), will announce at its May 19th, 2010 Upfront that it will amplify its US Hispanic offering to appeal to a wider spectrum of the Latino audience. Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas will expand its offering to deliver a broader scope of content. As part of this strategy, Tr3s will align and build synergies with MTV Networks International's (MTVNI) US Hispanic & Latin American operations in Miami under the leadership of Sofia Ioannou who will expand her remit as Managing Director of MTVN Latin America & Canada to include US Hispanic.  John Mafoutsis, Senior Vice President of Brand Solutions for MTVN Latin America & Canada will also expand his role to include Tr3s, Jose Tillan will continue to serve a General Manager & Executive Vice President and Luisa Fairborne as Director of Advertising Sales of Tr3s. The newly named Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas and programming line-up kicks off on July 12th, 2010.

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"Amplifying the Tr3s brand to embrace more aspects of Latino life and culture is key to our growth," commented Ioannou. "With more than 48 million strong, the Hispanic community is a driving force in the US, as it continues to influence the cultural, political & economic landscape of our country.  Evolving Tr3s to broaden our audience connection and reflect the life and experiences of our Latino audience could not come at a better time."

"MTVNI's mission is to take world class content and creative and deliver it in culturally and geographically relevant ways and Tr3s is the latest example of this," added Bob Bakish, President, MTVNI.  "We strongly believe that we will build off the channel's momentum and that Tr3s will benefit from our expertise working across brands, demographics and geographies."

Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas will continue to celebrate the bi-lingual and bi-cultural reality of its audience with a look and feel that embraces the trilogy of their culture – Latin American/Caribbean roots plus their American life equals today's US Latino. While music and MTV programming will remain a very important part of Tr3s, the brand will expand its content offering to embrace a wider spectrum of its 12-34 audience particularly during prime time (7-11pm) with programming that appeals the entire demo to drive co-viewing among teens and their parents.

"This strategy is in response to the ongoing dialogue we have with our audience who want us to expand our cultural connections to reflect more aspects of their unique lifestyle and their own personal identity," said Tillan. "We are confident that by expanding our content offering we will deepen our connection with this vibrant and growing Latino audience while building new and creative client synergies."

Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas will increase its original productions and key acquisitions, as well as tap into MTVN's vast library of content around the world to focus on three key lifestyle aspects of Latinos – Music, the heart and soul of Latino life; Making It with success stories of Latinos achieving the "Latino American dream"; and Milestones featuring stories that capture their rights of passage and coming of age. New properties include "The George Lopez Show," "Lucha Libre: USA Masked Warriors," "Mis Videos Locos with Paul Rodriguez" and Nickelodeon shows "Drake & Josh" and "The Brothers Garcia," as well as telenovelas "Juegos Prohibidos" & "Ninas Mal."  In addition, the network will continue to program viewer favorites with new seasons of "Mind of Mencia," "Quiero Mis Quinces" & "Quiero Mi Boda."

Social responsibility will be front and center through the network's "Agentes de Cambio" campaign created to inspire young Latinos to influence positive change in their communities. The initiative will tackle topics and issues that are relevant to US Hispanics including immigration, education, and health, among others. Nonprofit organizations Ashoka, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Pan-American Health & Education Fund (PAHEF) and Citi Year will join Tr3s as supporting partners for "Agentes de Cambio."

Speaking about Tr3s' influence on music, Latin Grammy winning artist Daddy Yankee commented: "Tr3s will continue to be an important platform for showcasing my music and reaching my fans. I'm thrilled that there is a destination like Tr3s that unites the Latino culture through music."

Comedian Carlos Mencia added: "My fans know exploring the humor rooted in all stereotypes is my way of breaking down barriers that exist within our diverse culture. Tr3s will fulfill a need among Latinos for the positive portrayal of Latinos achieving the American dream."

About Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas

Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas, owned and operated by MTV Networks International (MTVNI), reaches 7.4 million Hispanic TV households (58% of US Hispanic Total TV HH) and 39 million total TV households. The network's programming embraces the trilogy of cultures that represents Latino life – Latin American plus American equals US Latino - through original productions, key acquisitions, and content from MTV Networks' portfolio of entertainment brands. Tr3s embraces the key lifestyle aspects of Latino identity -- milestones, making it and music -- as well as social responsibility through its initiative "Agentes de Cambio," which tackles issues that affect Latinos today. The network also taps into the growing number of Latinos that are digitally connected thru www.mtvtr3s.com.

SOURCE MTV Tr3s