Terra Launches Atom Project in U.S. and Latin America

PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Terra, a leading internet company and original digital content producer with a primary focus on the US Hispanic experience, today launched its 12-step revolution to a new Terra.com. Dubbed the Atom Project, this yearlong initiative comprises new, cutting-edge components that will be introduced one at a time to the portal's 60 million users on the seventh day of every month. Today, the first phase of Terra's renovations hits the homepage and main page of each channel. Among the innovations that will transform the way consumers access both editorial content and user-generated content on multiple platforms include third generation social networking tools, fresh layouts and unprecedented content integration.

"Atom is the seed for the portal of the future. $10 million was invested in the program's development, which involved the participation of 400 Terra employees and approximately 300 experts from the design and Internet industries," said Fernando Madeira, general director of Terra Latin America. "The entire project is based on creating the best experience for users, through the multiplatform offering of content and social tools. Every seventh of the month will be a day of innovation for the portal and its users."

The new Terra is designed to increase personalization, interactivity and accessibility. For example, an improved search function will enhance access to desired content; users will be able to move seamlessly between channels and subchannels; and it will be possible to simultaneously view, send and discuss a video, photo or article in a single click. The Atom Project also extends to mobile formats for Smartphones, including the iPhone, allowing for rich media and high-impact advertising.

In addition to the groundbreaking technology, original content will remain a top priority for Terra. In January, Terra will bring exclusive coverage of the inauguration, the Oscars, the World Social Forum, a special on the twentieth anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Dakar Rally and the Libertadores Cup. Also in January, the online Terra Magazine will introduce articles from leading New York Times columnists Umberto Eco, Mikhail Gorbachev and Thomas Friedman.

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Mayor Bloomberg and Latin Media and Entertainment Commission Announce New Efforts to Position New York as the Center for Latin Media and Entertainment

PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE.- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday at the annual "Made in NY" Awards reception held at Gracie Mansion new efforts of the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission (LMEC) to position New York as the center for Latin media and entertainment. The announcements included the City's first ever Latin Media Guide of events taking place throughout the city, the appointment of eight new commission members, the formation of a working group with educational institutions and industry leaders, and a newly re-launched website on www.nyc.gov .

"The Latin Media and Entertainment Commission was established to showcase our city's Latino arts and entertainment community and create new opportunities and jobs in these fields," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The Commission has brought together executives from Latin media and business organizations, and over the past four years these leaders have put their talents to work on the city's behalf. By welcoming eight new members and launching a new website and Latin media guide, the Commission is strengthening the art, music, and entertainment industries that make New York City the Latin Media and Entertainment Capital of the World."

As part of the Commission's efforts to create and support events that provide the most enriching Latin cultural experiences, the LMEC has partnered with the bilingual Latino website NYRemezcla to create the first-ever Latin Media Guide. The 2008 edition of the guide includes 14 events supported by LMEC. These events range from Latin film screenings to outdoor Latin music concerts and combined are expected to have an estimated economic impact on the city of over $60 million.

"We continue to work closely with the Mayor to identify, build, and tout top destinations in New York City featuring Latin advertising, new media, films, music, dining, art galleries, and more," said LMEC Chair Mario L. Baeza, Chairman and CEO of the Baeza Group, and Founder and Executive Chairman V-Me Media, Inc. "We are committed to fostering the growth of Latin organizations in New York in order to continue growing and enriching the cultural fabric of our great City."

This year, LMEC's goal to promote economic development for Hispanic advertising and media companies will be re-enforced by the addition of eight new board members: Patrick Dolan, Senior Vice President, Interactive Advertising Bureau; Robert Federico, Executive Director, Repertorio Español; Angela M. Freyre, Senior Vice President, Nielsen Media; Jacqueline Hernández, COO, Telemundo; Jorge Reynardus, President/Partner, Reynardus & Moya; Jeffrey Thompson, Vice President Global Diversity, Disney; Joe Uva, CEO, Univision; Carlos Sanchez, President & General Manager of Telemundo 47.

The event listings in the Latin Media Guide are also part of a comprehensive calendar featured on the LMEC's newly redesigned website that can be found on www.nyc.gov . Some of the up-coming LMEC-endorsed events appearing in the new Latin Media Guide include TeatroStageFest being held June 2-15, the Latin Alternative Music Conference being held July 8-12, the New York International Latino Film Festival taking place July 22-27, the Latino Cultural Festival at the Queens Theater July 23-August 3 and the New York Salsa Congress August 27-31.

The new LMEC website will also include a summary of New York business incentives, an Online Business Survey, a directory of industry and Latino cultural institutions and subscription to a newsletter that will keep the public updated and informed about the LMEC's work and upcoming Latin events. The website will also highlight the LMEC's joint effort with many of the City's top colleges and universities and executives in the "new media" and Hispanic advertising fields to develop and strengthen New York City's growing Latin media and entertainment workforce. The partnership seeks to bridge the gap between educational institutions and the changing demands of the industry to provide opportunities to students.

Terra Networks Partners with Warner Music to Present the DVD Release of Arde el Cielo con Maná

PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE.- Terra Networks and Warner Music announced today a partnership to present the DVD release of "Arde el Cielo con Maná". The exclusive bilingual online programming will provide consumers a unique and unprecedented in-depth artist experience at Terra.com, including contests, photo galleries, community pages, blogs, webisodes of exclusive interviews and much more.

"We are proud to partner with Warner Music in order to offer Maná fans and the online community in general groundbreaking online coverage of one of the best rock bands in the world, Maná and the release of their DVD 'Arde el Cielo con Maná'," said Angel Sepúlveda, Executive Director of Programming of Terra Networks USA.

"In this new digital world we need to cater to a consumer that is eager for new content and open to new ways to relate to their favorite bands. I can't think of a better way to start off this relationship with Terra than with a band like Maná," said Gabriela Martínez, Vice President of Marketing for Warner Music Latin America.

The initial phase includes the re-launch of the Maná artist page with new videos, photo galleries, bios, trivia and exclusive sneak peaks of the DVD as well as a contest where fans will compete to become the ultimate Maná fan. Terra users will vote to select the top five finalists and the band will select the winner, who will attend the release party and be the "Official Maná Blogger" on the web.

The second phase will include an autographed Gibson guitar giveaway and a behind the scenes with Terra TV Host Luisa Fernanda as Maná, Terra and Warner Music get ready to take-over. Terra and Terra TV editorial teams will provide live minute-by-minute coverage available at http://www.terra.com/musica/artistas/m/mana

Univision Special 'TV Digital: ¿Cuánto Sabes?' to Inform Viewers about Upcoming Switch to Digital Television

The Univision Television Network announced its second digital television special, "TV Digital: ¿Cuánto Sabes?" (Digital TV: How Much Do You Know?), informing viewers of the various aspects of the transition to digital television in 2009 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The half-hour special will air on Saturday, March 22, at 4:30 pm ET/PT (3:30 pm Central).

Hosted by network personalities Fernando Arau, host of Univision's number one morning talk, news and entertainment program and Carmen Dominicci, award-winning reporter of the network's weekly primetime magazine show "Aquí y Ahora", the special will review in simple and easy to understand terminology the difference between the current analog and upcoming digital systems.

The show will also feature Univision personalities including Carlos Calderon, host of Galavisión Television Network's hit interactive-music show "Acceso Máximo" (All Access), Tony Dandrades, entertainment reporter for Univision's top-rated news magazine "Primer Impacto (First Impact) and Marta "Martica" Rodriguez, popular personality on Univision's entertainment news and gossip fest "El Gordo y La Flaca" (The Scoop and The Skinny), who will explain the benefits of digital broadcasting, the importance of applying for a digital-to-analog converter box coupon and demonstrate, step-by-step, how to properly install a converter box.

Also appearing in the special are Spanish-language television icon and host of Univision's hit talk show "Cristina", Cristina Saralegui, who will be interviewing Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition; their discussion will focus on the importance of the digital conversion and who will be affected by this change.

In October 2007 Univision launched a massive multi-platform campaign to educate the country's Hispanic population on the upcoming congressionally mandated transition from analog to digital television broadcasting (DTV). According to a study released by Nielsen in February, nearly 17 percent of Hispanic households could be left without full power television service if the transition happened today.

"Univision, as the first broadcaster to implement a comprehensive, multi-platform DTV education campaign, has taken a leadership role in the DTV education efforts to ensure that all Hispanics in the U.S. and Puerto Rico are appropriately informed about this complex and important issue," said Cesar Conde, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Univision Communications Inc. "These efforts are part of our ongoing commitment to inform and empower the Hispanic community."

Source: PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE

Univision TV+Digital Viewers Television Marketing Hispanic

Microsoft Responds to Rise in Hispanic Small-Business Ownership

REDMOND, Wash., March 18 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Meeting the needs of a diverse marketplace, Microsoft Corp. has launched a bilingual Spanish-English version of Office Accounting Express 2008 and Office Accounting Professional 2008 in the United States, providing bilingual functionality for the growing Hispanic small-business community. Over the next 10 years, Hispanic-owned businesses will be the fastest-growing component of the business end-user market in the United States, and their rate of growth is projected to be almost three times that of overall U.S. firms.(1)

"Small businesses recognize that managing their finances is a vital task that can be overwhelming," said Jose Pinero, director of Diversity and Multicultural Marketing for Microsoft. "Products such as Office Accounting 2008 help small businesses by offering easy, affordable and comprehensive solutions to effectively perform everyday financial tasks in both Spanish and English."

Office Accounting Express 2008 in Spanish is completely free and is designed to help sole proprietors, startups and home-based businesses manage everyday financial tasks such as tracking income and expenses, sending quotes and invoices, and running reports. The software integrates with additional third-party services, which will enable businesses to harness the power of the Internet to sell products online on eBay, send invoices and receive payments electronically, process payroll, run credit reports, work with their accountant, and more -- all from within their accounting application.

"We operate everything with Office Accounting Express," said Arturo Vela, owner of Visible Salon, a company dedicated to the sales and marketing of beauty products. "We make payments to salons and invoice the distributor in New York; we control our warehouse inventory and manage our balance sheet. It's impressive that Microsoft offers this software for no cost at all."

Office Accounting Professional is an even more robust solution for more established businesses and is available for an estimated retail price of $199.95 (U.S.).(2) Both editions are available for download in English (http://www.ideawins.com) and Spanish (http://www.ideawins.com/espanol) in the United States.

According to recent studies, by 2010, there are expected to be 3.2 million Hispanic firms generating $465 billion in revenues.(3) Hispanic-owned firms are continuing to grow at higher rates than the average U.S. firms, and they are expecting higher growth in revenue and labor force than non-Hispanic firms.(4) Demographic trends point to an even greater Hispanic business presence in the future.

"We know that the U.S. small-business market is very diverse, and we want to make sure that Office Accounting 2008 meets the needs of all small businesses in the U.S. That is why we now offer the product in Spanish to help the over 2 million Hispanic small businesses based in the U.S.,"(5) Pinero said.

More than 2 million people downloaded Office Accounting 2007 last year, and the feedback provided by these customers helped influence the 2008 version. Office Accounting 2008 offers many innovative features to help manage a small business:

-- Easy to learn and use
-- Works just like Word, Excel and Outlook
-- Get started in minutes with wizards that import data
-- Sell on eBay in minutes directly from Office Accounting

-- Save time managing everyday tasks
-- Share and reuse data across Word, Excel and Outlook
-- Manage customers and vendors, employees and inventory
-- Pay bills, track expenses, send invoices and bank online

-- Get a complete view of the business
-- Run customizable reports to keep track of business development
-- See all important data in one glance with the Digital Dashboard
-- Get reminders of important deadlines, pending bills and overdue invoices


(1) Latino-Business Barometer United States, 2005, RDA Global
(2) Estimated retail price. Prices vary by reseller.
(3) Small Business Administration, HispanTelligence, 2004
(4) Latino-Business Barometer United States, 2005, RDA Global
(5) U.S. Census Bureau, 2005

Soure: PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE

Microsoft Bilingual Spanish Multicultural+marketing Marketing Hispanic Technology