Ashley Homestores To Sponsor Highly Anticipated Hispanic Television Series

Furniture World Magazine

According to Lance Hanish, Chairman/CEO LBC Advertising and FURNITURE WORLD Magazine contributor, Ashley Homestores will be the first major sponsor of one of Hispanic television's most anticipated new series, "Despararecidos" on LAT TV. The sponsorship of this initial episode on the Hispanic network was arranged by LBC Advertising's LB/FRANZEN Media Management arm under the direction of Heather Bone, Director of Media. 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. "It is all about brands. You can overcome information clutter with strong brands. Ashley HomeStore is a major brand. Anytime there is a program, event, happening anywhere in North America, which affects the family in North America, we are going to make a difference by being there first.", stated Bone. 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 Latino through an exclusive online partnership. AOL Latino 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 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." "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. 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.