Readers of the Los Angeles Spanish-language newspaper Hoy will get a little something extra in their weekend edition next month a new monthly sports magazine under a Fox Sports label.
“Fox Sports en Espa & #324;ol” will focus on sports and athletes in soccer, baseball, boxing and other areas that are a mainstay on the similarly titled Los Angeles-based Fox Sports en Espa & #324;ol cable network.
The magazine, which New York-based Cuatro Media Inc. will publish under a licensing agreement with Fox Pan American Sports LLC, debuts March 23 in six cities with large Hispanic populations. It will take the unusual step of publishing separate West and East coast editions to better reflect the diverse Latino sports interests of each market. While both editions will cover a wide range of sports, the East Coast edition will have a more Caribbean Hispanic feel and heavier emphasis on baseball coverage than the more soccer-focused West Coast version.
“Among Hispanics, sports are a deep rooted passion,” Editor-in-Chief Luis Vi & #324;uales said in a statement. “We created a magazine that respects our readers and takes this passion very seriously.”
Each four-color issue will average 55 pages in a format close in size to the New York Times magazine. Fox Sports en Espa & #324;ol also will be available by mail to paid subscribers, in addition to free circulation in participating newspapers, including the New York and Chicago editions of Hoy, a Tribune Co. publication, and Knight Ridder Inc.’s El Nuevo Herald in Miami.
Fox Pan American Sports, is jointly owned by Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. and News Corp.’s Fox Sports International.
Bedtime Dreams
After 16 years of providing the public relations firepower for children’s hits such as Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and Bob the Builder, Steve Syatt has turned his talents toward his own dreams of licensed kiddie-toy stardom.
The Encino-based youth marketing specialist created a world of bedtime stories called Shushybye for his son, and now hopes to hit it big with a book, DVD program and other media avenues.
On tap is a short radio show for a children’s channel on XM Satellite Radio. The company already has a distribution deal with the video unit of public television production giant WGBH Boston. Another company is creating a subscription-based audio service that will call a child at home with messages from the Shushies. And a variety of licensed products are scheduled to launch this spring, all by companies with whom Syatt had developed a relationship over the years as head of SSA Public Relations.
“The thing that’s important in marketing is not to miss a trick in getting your message out there in whatever media you can you can’t wait for people to come to you,” said Syatt, founder of Shushybye Co.
Syatt built a cult following with Internet sales and live events at regional Borders book stores featuring the adventures of Snoozles, Dozie and Zeez, characters whose intent is to motivate children to go to bed and fall asleep.
The bedtime strategy works like this: the vaguely Smurf-like Shushies, living in villages like Nap Valley and Snore Shore, spend their days creating wonderful dreams for children. The dreams are poured into boxes and loaded on a magic train steered by Conductor McCloud. Conductor McCloud delivers only to children who are in bed and asleep when he arrives.
Multimedia content includes lively tunes composed by Syatt to drive home the message to kids during the day and lullabies to calm them at night. Syatt composed and recorded the songs in his home studio, and called upon contacts in the publishing, music and animation industries to polish the productions, which include live-action costumed characters and CGI animation.
The Shushybye series has recently gained an endorsement from Family Magazine Group, publisher of the free-distribution Los Angeles Family Magazine. Last month, the publisher honored “Shushybye Dream Band Live on Tour” DVD as a 2005 Family Choice Awards winner in the preschool category.
“Products get into the home in a couple of ways: kids saying,
‘Mommy I want this and I’m going to hold my breath until I get it,’ and parents seeing something that’s educational and has value for the child and saying, ‘Sammy, I’m getting this for you whether you want it or not,’ ” Syatt said. “I wanted to create a product that appeals both ways. The road is filled with thrown-out kid stuff. And I don’t want to be on that road.”
This and That
Los Angeles-based Fox Networks Group’s reality TV network, Fox Reality, and 2waytraffic, a Netherlands-based interactive content developer and producer, are creating a subscription service for mobile phone users. The $4.99-a-month service, expected to launch this spring, will provide daily recaps of unscripted television shows, reality show casting calls and network sweepstakes.
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Burbank-based media management services provider Point.360 has entered into an agreement to use CBS Television for digital distribution of its client’s advertising content, over a proprietary platform, to more than 1,200 affiliated television stations, broadcast networks and cable networks. Point.360’s advertising distribution customers include Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Miramax Films.
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More winners from last month’s 2005 Golden Mike Awards sponsored by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California: Public television KCET-TV’s (Channel 10) newsmagazine “Life & Times” took home four awards including Best Public Affairs Series. In the radio division, KFWB-AM’s (980) 7 a.m. news report took home the award for the Best Radio Newscast over 15 minutes, with KFI-AM’s (640) 5 p.m. news report winning the under-15-minute newscast award.
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Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232, or at
[email protected]
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