Semillitas is an American Spanish-language children

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel, owned by the media company SomosTV, headed by Luis Villanueva (President & CEO of SOMOS Group). The channel targets children 0–10 years of age with the objective of preserving Hispanic cultural roots and language through entertaining and violence-free programming, specifically

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

and is distributed in a format without traditional

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

. Semillitas, produced in High Definition, programs animation in Spanish 24-hours a day, with

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

and video description, utilizing

Standard Spanish Standard Spanish, also called the , refers to the standard, or codified, variety of the Spanish language, which most writing and formal speech in Spanish tends to reflect. This standard, like other standard languages, tends to reflect the norm ...

dialogue.

History

In 2007, Semillitas was launched by Somos TV initially in The United States. Semillitas targets

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

toddlers, preschool and kids aged children with the objective to entertain, educate and help preserve the language and

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...

. Semillitas programs violence-free and stop-motion

content from

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

and international markets. On March 17, 2007, Verizon FiOS added the channel on the lineup on position 1721. Semillitas has expanded its coverage internationally, with distribution to

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and The Caribbean. in companies such as Claro and Millicom. In 2019, Semillitas was nominated to the PROMAX Awards in the Total Package Design category. In 2023, the channel won the prestigious award "Outstanding Achievement: Spanish Media (USA)", presented by The

American Council of the Blind The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is a nationwide organization in the United States. It is an organization mainly made up of blind and visually impaired people who want to achieve independence and equality (although there are many sighted ...

, for its support of children with special needs with its inclusion of Audio description in the channel's content. In 2020, Semillitas celebrated its 13 year Anniversary.

Programming

The programs shown on this channel include: '' Louie'', '' Elías'', '' Sid the Science Kid'', '' The Doodlebops, '' Angelina Ballerina'', ''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

'', '' Chloe's Closet'', '' Franny's Feet'', '' Mouk'', ''ClayPlay'', ''Dive Olly Dive!'', '' Kit and Kate'' ''

Fireman Sam ''Fireman Sam'' () is a British animated children's television series about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters, and other residents in the fictional Welsh rural village of Pontypandy (a portmanteau of two real towns, Pontypridd and T ...

'', ''Monkey See, Monkey Do'', '' The Doozers'', ''

Pocoyo ''Pocoyo'' ( in Spanish and stylised as ''POCOYO'') is an animated interactive preschool comedy television series created by David Cantolla, Luis Gallego, and Guillermo García Carsí, that premiered on 7 January 2005 on La 2. The series was ...

'', ''

Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * Strawberry Shortcake, a cartoon character and franchise created by American Greetings ** Strawberry Shortcake (TV series), ''Strawberry Sho ...

'', ''Dr. Panda'', ''Pirata & Capitano'', ''Quiz Time'', ''

Tickety Toc ''Tickety Toc'' is a preschool comedy animated television series produced by The Foundation, part of Zodiak Media and FunnyFlux Entertainment. The first series consists of 52 episodes, each 11 minutes long, but is often shown as twenty-six bl ...

'', ''

Chuggington ''Chuggington'', also known as ''Chuggington: Tales from the Rails'' in series 6, is a British animated television series aimed at pre-school children, produced by Ludorum plc and Herschend Entertainment Studios. It is broadcast on the BBC's ...

'', ''

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

'', ''

Caillou ''Caillou'' ( ; , stylized in lowercase) is an animated educational children's television series that aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions) with the first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997 until the fou ...

'', '' Little People'' , '' P. King Duckling'', '' SamSam'', ''Book Hungry Bears'', ''Dumper & Skoop'', Maya the Bee (TV series) (''La Abeja Maya''),"Ziggy and the Zoo Tram" and "Bubu Y Las Lechucitas" Semillitas produces a significant amount of hours of in-house produced content to emphasize its cultural relevance. This content complements the educational and Latino family orientation of the channel. Semillitas includes multi-platform rights The channel is carried by

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

and Telco companies in the U.S,

, and

and also affiliates part of the NCTC's (National Cable Television Cooperative). NCTC is responsible for acquiring programming and hardware for almost 1000 affiliated companies that own and operate

systems in the U.S. Semillitas offers its subscribers a Free VOD Service available in all its carriers.

Market

Semillitas is currently available in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. and The Caribbean. The content of Semillitas has been selected within range of educational and entertaining programming for this age group. The programming emphasizes the relevance of culture and importance of family ties within the Hispanic community. Semillitas is currently available on RCN, Verizon FiOS, Blue Stream, Coyote Cable, Hargray, Tigo (Panama), Incateco, Tigo (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) and Claro, among other

Pay Television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

providers.

References

External links

* *http://www.somostv.net {{U.S. family-oriented television channels Hispanic and Latino American culture in Miami Spanish-language mass media in Florida Spanish-language television networks in the United States Companies based in Miami Commercial-free television networks Children's television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2006 Preschool education television networks SOMOSTV