LAT-TV Co-Produces DESAPARECIDOS - A New Ground-Breaking TV Series Focused on Helping Locate Missing U.S. Latinos

LAT-TV Co-Produces DESAPARECIDOS - A New Ground-Breaking TV Series Focused on Helping Locate Missing U.S. Latinos

Award-Winning Journalist Marian De La Fuente Joins as Host; AOL Latino Joins as Exclusive Online Partner

HOUSTON, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- DESAPARECIDOS, a new pioneering docudrama featuring real life cases of missing Hispanics in the U.S., premieres Tuesday, October 23, on LAT-TV's 22 market network. The program informs audiences about facts and circumstances surrounding unsolved missing person cases, (primarily children) providing viewer education and safety tips. The show aims to alert the community and hopefully prevent such crimes from occurring in the future. The weekly one hour program will air every Tuesday at 9:00 p.m./8:00 central time and includes 29 episodes.

Highly respected and famed journalist Marian de la Fuente returns to television to host this program. She brings a high level of integrity and journalistic quality from her former tenure with Telenoticias and the Telemundo International network.

Viewers will also have the opportunity to become active participants in the search for missing persons with the support of AOL(R) Latino through an exclusive online partnership. AOL Latino (http://www.aollatino.com/) takes the show to a national level by launching an interactive Web site that provides a forum for the Latino community to discuss cases and issues raised by the program. The site (http://www.desaparecidos.aol.com/), which goes live on October 23, will showcase highlights from the show, vital resource information about missing persons, and updates on the cases.

"AOL Latino's mission is to empower and educate its users with the best and most informative content available on the Web," said Miguel Ferrer, Director of Programming, AOL Latino. "We're honored to team with LAT-TV, Plural Entertainment, and all the prestigious and reputable companies associated with the launch of DESAPARECIDOS. U.S. Hispanics are the fastest-growing community online and we are confident they will embrace this new show and Web site."

Plural Entertainment Inc. is the show's format creator and co-producer with LatinAmerica Broadcasting, Inc. (LAT-TV(TM)), and audiovisual producer of Spain's largest media conglomerate, GRUPO PRISA. "Plural has a history and reputation of bringing unique and pioneering Hispanic stories to the silver screen and television," says Alvaro Garnica, Executive Producer. "Beginning with our involvement as co-producers of A Day Without a Mexican, we create projects that deal with important themes for Latinos and are committed to raising the bar on quality television for Hispanics. For that matter we are proud to partner with LAT-TV, a network that shares our vision."

DESAPARECIDOS will galvanize broadcasters to gain exposure regarding this issue and expand clearance into major Hispanic markets. Marketing will include distribution of child safety kits, as well as broadcast, community, legal and online resources.

"Our responsibility as media is to go beyond television. If with DESAPARECIDOS we not only educate but hopefully assist in the finding of a child, we have more than done our job," states Patricia Torres-Burd, Exec. VP of Programming and Branding, LAT-TV. "A large part of the program is dedicated to providing information on what we can all learn to keep our loved ones safe."

In addition to LAT-TV stations, the program has been cleared by Miami's WGEN-TV CH 8, which will broadcast the show on Sundays at 9 PM (EST), and on various ALTERNA'TV channels. It is also presently being cleared in many other major markets across the U.S.

Roberto Vizcon, General Manager of GenTV/CH 8 Miami added, "GenTV is the first television channel in Miami whose programming is created for the South Florida Spanish-speaking audience, inclusive of all Hispanics. In our effort to broadcast the best our culture has to offer, we are very proud to air DESAPARECIDOS, a program created to not only inform but to also educate all of us in assuring the safety of our children."

"We at ATLERNA'TV are committed to making sure our viewers always get relevant programming, and DESAPARECIDOS fits this goal. Along with our fellow broadcasters we are hopeful that we can all work together to help find some of the missing children as well as prevent tragedies from taking place," added Leonardo Alvarado, Director of Programming, ALTERNA'TV.

A part of this effort is to partner with major sponsors and local communities to distribute child safety kits to aid parents and authorities in the recovery of a child, should such a tragedy occur. LAT-TV's goal is to provide as many free Child Safety Kits as possible to the communities they serve. The organization Your Safe Child is working with LAT-TV to ensure more than 1,000,000 kits are made available nationwide.

"We are thrilled to be working with LAT-TV on this project and unprecedented campaign. By empowering the viewer and creating a call to action, many families could be reunited," says Debra LaPorte, CEO of Your Safe Child. "We are certainly honored to be part of this desire to reach out to the Hispanic community on a broad scale."

Clearance for DESAPARECIDOS includes the following markets: KCVH Houston CH 30; KJJM Dallas CH 34; KVPA Phoenix CH 42; KISA San Antonio CH 40; KVAT Austin CH 17; and 17 other markets covered by LAT TV(TM), as well as WGEN Miami CH 8, and ALTERNA'TV; with further expansion planned for New York, California, and Puerto Rico.

About AOL(R) Latino

AOL(R) Latino (http://www.aollatino.com/) is the award-winning bilingual portal for U.S. Hispanics that provides comprehensive Spanish language products and services including free email, instant messaging, photo sharing, and English classes. The service also offers U.S. and Latin American news, financial tools, the latest in music and entertainment, personal finance, sports, fashion and beauty, as well as access to all the existing content available on AOL (http://www.aol.com/).

About LAT-TV(TM)

LAT-TV(TM) offers content that is appealing for all Hispanic/ Latinos living in the U.S. Since its inception, LAT-TV(TM) has invested millions in stations, programming, staffing, and a network operations center in Houston. After three years of building its platform, LAT-TV(TM) has positioned itself as a young national network anticipating growth reaching more than 80 percent US distribution within the next two years.

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Source: LAT-TV

CONTACT: Sylvia Cavazos, +1-832-455-8513, sylvia@thinkcava.com, or
Veronica Garcia, +1-281-455-6846, veronica@thinkcava.com, both of Cavazos
Communications, +1-713-223-2282, all for LAT-TV

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Profile: International Entertainment