V-me: Difference between revisions

| name = V-meVme TV

| logo_size = 250px

| launch_date = {{Start date|20002007|23|275|p=y}}

| website = {{urlURL|www.vmetv.com}}

'''V-me''' ({{IPA-|es|ˈbeme}}, a pun on ''veme'', "watch me" or "see me") is a [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic-Latino American]] Spanish-language [[television network]], currently carried as an over-the-air public broadcasting network in association with [[public television]] stations. V-me airs a variety of programs, including comedy, dramamusic, juvenilescience and technology, musicsports, soap operas, entertainment, juvenile, news and current affairs, food, reality shows, talk shows, lifestyle, nature, showbiz, magazines and educational preschoolpre-school content.

The 24-hour digital broadcast service was launched on FebruaryMarch 275, 20002007, 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 [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] and [[American Public Television]], specially adapted for [[American Latinos]].<ref name="Current_Everhart">{{cite web|last=Everhart|first=Karen| url=http://www.current.org/dtv/dtv0702choices.shtml |title=Multicast channels crowd bitstream: V-me, in Spanish, joins options for stations' DTV broadcasts| work=[[Current (newspaper)|Current]] |date=February 12, 2007 |access-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211120116/https://current.org/dtv/dtv0702choices.shtml |archive-date=February 11, 2011}}

The first venture of the media production and distribution company V-me Television Media Inc., it is a [[public-private partnership]] between [[WNET]], a [[non-commercial educational]] public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and the investment firm [[Mario Baeza|Baeza Group]], the venture capital firm Syncom Funds, and [[PRISA|Grupo PRISA]] from Spain, one of the world's largest Spanish and Portuguese-language media companies.<ref>{{cite news|first=Elizabeth|last=Jensen|url=http://www.vmetv.com/_files/_press_pdf/NY_Times.pdf|title=Public Television Plans A Network for Latinos|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 7, 2007|access-date=December 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724120002/http://www.vmetv.com/_files/_press_pdf/NY_Times.pdf|archive-date=July 24, 2011}}<!-- note to editors: the "Educational Broadcasting Corporation" referred to in this source is now named WNET.org, the owner of WNET --></ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.current.org/2012/04/pubtv-multicaster-v-me-faulted-for-airing-ordinary-commercials/|title=PubTV multicaster V-me faulted for airing 'ordinary commercials'|work=[[Current (newspaper)|Current]]|first=Dru|last=Sefton|date=April 23, 2012|access-date=December 14, 2012}}</ref> WNET is a minority partner in the for-profit venture.<ref name="Current_Everhart" />

In April 2013, a [[Florida]]-based private investor group of Venezuelans (Eduardo Hauser, [[J. J. Rendón]], 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 (disambiguation)|Terry Jones]], and [[WNET]]’s VP and general counsel Robert Feinberg.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.portada-online.com/hispanic-media/broadcast/breaking-venezuelan-investors-buy-controlling-stake-in-vme/ | title=BREAKING: Venezuelan Investors Buy Controlling Stake in Vme - | date=18 April 2013 }}</ref> 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]], [[Juan Manuel Benitez]], Luis Sarmiento, Alonso Castillo, Jackeline Cacho, and Marián de la Fuente.

In December 2016, PBSthe network announced thatit would move V-me wouldoff noPBS longermember continuestations itand create V-me's operationsown [[public television]] stations in 2017, following the expiration of the network's now 2324-year contracts with many of these stations, and transition exclusively to being broadcast on ten20 onover-the-air affiliates and as a cable and satellite channel. Most of V-me's onover-the-air PBS affiliates were dropped by March 31, 2017, and started to make its own public television affiliates; many of these affiliates had already chosen to add a channel to replace V-me withso it can have its own public TV stations and add a 24-hour [[PBS Kids]] channel, which launched on January 16, 2017.<ref name="current-vmeotaend">{{cite news|last1=Sefton|first1=Dru|title=Spanish-language multicaster Vme will soon drop public TV service|url=http://current.org/2016/12/spanish-language-multicaster-vme-will-soon-drop-public-tv-service/|access-date=December 31, 2016|work=[[Current (newspaper)|Current]]|date=December 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229195801/https://current.org/2016/12/spanish-language-multicaster-vme-will-soon-drop-public-tv-service/|archive-date=December 29, 2018}}</ref> V-me is still part of the Public Broadcasting Service and its own company but with its own public television stations.

The network has since pursued expanded cable carriage, along with distribution on [[AT&T U-verse]], [[Dish Network]] and [[DirecTV]] and their associated streaming services, and the network was added nationwide at the start of October 2022 on [[Spectrum (brand)|Spectrum]] systems.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Vme TV Expands Its Distribution With Charter|publisher=Vme Media, Inc.|date=27 September 2022|url=https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/09/27/2523250/33861/en/Vme-TV-Expands-Its-Distribution-With-Charter.html|access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref>