V-me (, a pun on ''veme'', 'watch me' or 'see me') is a Hispanic-Latino American Spanish-language

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

, formerly carried as an over-the-air public broadcasting network in association with

public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

stations. V-me airs a variety of programs, including drama, music, current affairs, food, lifestyle, nature and educational preschool content.

History

The 24-hour digital broadcast service was launched on March 5, 2007, with a stated mission to entertain, educate and inspire families in Spanish with a contemporary mix of original productions, exclusive premieres, acquisitions, and popular public television programs from

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

and

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepen ...

, specially adapted for American Latinos. The first venture of the media production and distribution company V-me Television Media Inc., it is a public-private partnership between

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

, a

non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (television advertisement, TV ads or radio advertisement, radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Fed ...

public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and the investment firm Baeza Group, the venture capital firm Syncom Funds, and Grupo PRISA from Spain, one of the world's largest Spanish and Portuguese-language media companies. WNET is a minority partner in the for-profit venture. In April 2013, a

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

-based private investor group of Venezuelans (Eduardo Hauser,

J. J. Rendón Juan José Rendón Delgado (born 27 January 1964), known professionally as J. J. Rendón, is a Venezuelan Political consulting, political consultant, psychologist, and political Activism, activist, known for being the one who has directed and wo ...

and Eligio Cedeño) took control of V-me Media, Inc., the U.S. Hispanic content and distribution company that owns Spanish-language network V-me and V-me Kids. Financial terms of the deal and the percentage of the ownership of the new investors was not disclosed. The V-me Board includes former AOL executive and founder and CEO of DailyMe.com Eduardo Hauser (chairman of the board), Syncom managing partner

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones a ...

and

’s VP and general counsel Robert Feinberg. V-me founder, Mario Baeza, stepped down as chairman, but will continue to have an ownership interest. LPM is the largest stakeholder in V-me. Among the journalists who have worked for V-me are

Jorge Gestoso Jorge Gestoso (born 20 March 1951) is a Uruguayan journalist who was born in Montevideo. For 16 years, he was the Principal Anchor and symbol of ''CNN en Español'', as well as Senior Washington Correspondent. ''CNN en Español'' is a televisi ...

, Juan Manuel Benitez, Luis Sarmiento, Alonso Castillo, Jackeline Cacho and Marián de la Fuente. In December 2016, the network announced it would move V-me off PBS member stations in 2017, following the expiration of the network's 10-year contracts with many of these stations, and transition exclusively to being broadcast on ten over-the-air affiliates and as a cable and satellite channel. Most of V-me's over-the-air affiliates were dropped by March 31, 2017; many of these affiliates had already chosen to replace V-me with a 24-hour

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

channel, which launched on January 16. The network has since pursued expanded cable carriage, along with distribution on AT&T U-verse,

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

and

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

and their associated streaming services, and the network was added nationwide at the start of October 2022 on

Spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

systems.

Programming

The network broadcasts a variety of programming in Spanish: * Latino-focused lifestyle content: health, parenting, travel, food, home, design, self-improvement and sports programs *Prime time drama series *News and current affairs, with '' Oppenheimer Presenta'' and ''Jorge Gestoso Investiga'' *Nature documentaries from

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

and

*Latin films and

TV miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

*Original music series, like ''Estudio Billboard'' *Weekly arts and pop culture specials *Educational preschool programs in Spanish (40 hours a week)

Affiliates

''See: List of V-me affiliates''

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.vmetv.com 2007 establishments in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2007 Commercial-free television networks Public television in the United States Spanish-language television networks in the United States