Telemundo’s sweet surrender – The Spanish-language station gave up its valiant attempt to form a third broadcast network in Mexico.

Old Pedro is dead. But no, love conquers even death! Old Pedro has come back to life as a young man to embrace the irresistible Isabel! Their glossy tresses tangle in the breeze, their eyes glow with desire, their lips near for a kiss … Ay! No, they mustn’t! But si, they must! Will they? Won’t they? Stay tuned.

Telenovelas. Corny beyond corny yet unbelievably addictive, those staples of Spanish-language television are much more than Latin-flavored soap operas. Indeed, telenovelas are the embodiment, the heartbeat, the incarnation of the struggle for Mexico’s economic soul.

For the last two years, hopes were high — no, passions were roused — that Telemundo, producer of programs such as the megahit “Body of Desire” (in which Old Pedro returns as hot young Salvador) would crack open Mexico’s hermetically sealed broadcast industry and launch that country’s third network. But even Old Pedro couldn’t have overcome the death grip Mexico’s two media powerhouses have on the market. Grupo Televisa and its smaller rival TV Azteca have a chokehold on viewer choice and have successfully blocked meaningful competition. What’s needed now is political courage to challenge the duopoly, but that’s nonexistent: Politicians who dare are likely to find candidates from their parties somehow left off the air. “*

*From: www.latimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

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