La Academia Final Concert Attracts 1.19 Million Viewers 2+, Making it the Second Most-Watched Program in Azteca America's Young History

La Academia Final Concert Attracts 1.19 Million Viewers 2+, Making it the Second Most-Watched Program in Azteca America's Young History

-Our Musical Reality Show Garnered 49% More P 18-49 Viewers Than Telefutura's Final Reality Concert and Three Times the P 18-49 Viewers of Telemundo's Final Reality Concert-

NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The reality on realities is in, and Azteca America is on top. La Academia, Hispanic America's favorite musical reality show, attracted 1.19 million viewers 2+ for its July 3 final concert.

As for the coveted 18-49 demo, La Academia attracted 826,000 viewers. The figure is a whopping 49% above the number of 18-49 impressions from Telefutura's Objetivo Fama final concert on May 1 and an even more astonishing 200% higher than Telemundo's 18-49 impressions for its Nuevas Voces final concert on May 29.

"First we built a network. Now we're building a ratings story, one page at a time," said Azteca America President and CEO Luis J. Echarte.

The La Academia final concert was number 17 for the week, based on NHTI ratings and collapsing strip programs. This marks the eighth consecutive week that Azteca America has had one or more programs on the list of the Top 25 weekly programs and the sixth consecutive week for La Academia. For more information, see: http://www.top5s.com/ .

"In May, it was Mexican League Soccer finals. Now's its musical reality shows. Stay tuned for more exciting blockbuster programming formats and live events," said Azteca America COO Jorge Jaidar.

First place winner of La Academia was Erasmo Gonzalez, a bilingual school teacher in the indigenous town of Xalpatlahuac, Guerrero. Second place went to Yuridia Gaxiola, from Mesa, Arizona. And third place was for Adrian Varela, of Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Edgar Guerrero, from Boise, Idaho, just missed the money, coming in at number five.

In all, the top three finishers took home over $400,000 in prize money, as well as late-model cars and SUVs and unlimited airline tickets.

Immediately following the final concert, 12 La Academia students launched a concert tour that begins in Mexico and includes 10 U.S. cities, as well as venues in Central America. The first U.S. stop will be in August, with more details coming soon.

Company Profile

Azteca America is the fastest-growing Hispanic network in the United States. The network is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V. (NYSE:TZA), one of the two largest producers of Spanish-language television content in the world. Azteca America currently has presence in 39 Hispanic markets, including: Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Phoenix, Brownsville-McAllen, Albuquerque, San Diego, Fresno-Visalia, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Denver, Orlando, Austin, Tampa, Corpus Christi, Tucson, Las Vegas, Colorado Springs, Monterey-Salinas, Hartford, Salt Lake City, Bakersfield, West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Omaha, Yakima, Naples-Ft. Myers, Wichita, Reno, Boise, Victoria, Oklahoma City, Charleston and Chattanooga.

For more information, visit our website: http://www.aztecaamerica.com/ .

Source: TV Azteca, S.A. de C.V.

CONTACT: Daniel McCosh, +011-52-55-1720-0059, or dmccosh@aztecaamerica.com, or Juan Pablo Alvarez, +011-52-55-1720-5705, or jpalvarez@aztecaamerica.com, both of Azteca America, +1-646-253-9167

Web site: http://www.tvazteca.com.mx/ http://www.top5s.com/ http://www.aztecaamerica.com/

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