NBCUniversal announced that Emilio Romano has been named president of Telemundo effective in October, assuming the role vacated when Don Browne retired in June. In his new position, Romano will lead the Telemundo broadcast network and its 14 owned stations, Telemundo’s Digital Media group, Telemundo International, the Emmy Award-winning News and Sports divisions, the Entertainment division and Telemundo Studios. He also will have oversight of sales, marketing, and mun2, the cable network for young bicultural Latinos.
Romano will report to Lauren Zalaznick, chairman NBCUniversal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media. “Emilio is the ideal executive to lead Telemundo as we continue to build on our record breaking performances this year,” she said. “His extensive knowledge of Hispanic media combined with a proven track record running large scale businesses will be a great addition to the Telemundo management team.”
Before joining Telemundo, Romano was Grupo Televisa’s director of Mergers & Acquisitions and later vice president of International Operations. Previously, he was a member of the board of directors for Univision Communications and directed several high profile transactions including: the Sky Latin America joint venture with News Corporation, Organizações Globo and TCI; the sale of PanAmSat to Hughes Electronics; and the formation of Via Digital DTH venture for the Iberian Peninsula. Romano also was responsible for Televisa’s operations outside of Mexico, including the record label Fonovisa and the worldwide programming distribution arm Protele. Additionally, he co-managed Cablevisión, the largest cable network in Mexico.
More recently, from 2004 to 2007, he served as CEO for Grupo Mexicana de Aviacion where he was responsible for the airline’s largest financial restructuring in its 87-year history. During his tenure he also organized the launch of the first low-cost carrier in Mexico: Click Mexicana and engineered the sale of Mexicana de Aviacion to a Mexican investor group. His earlier career included several executive positions within the Mexican Ministry of Finance.
Telemundo reaches 94 percent of U.S. Hispanic viewers in 210 markets through its 14 owned stations, 1 independent station (WKAQ in Puerto Rico), 46 broadcast affiliates, and over 1,000 cable affiliates; mun2, the preeminent voice for bicultural Hispanics in the U.S., reaching over 35 million U.S. TV households nationwide on digital and analog cable, and satellite; Telemundo Digital Media, which leverages Telemundo’s original content for distribution across digital and emerging platforms including mobile devices and www.telemundo.com and www.mun2.tv; and Telemundo Internacional, the company’s international distribution arm which has positioned Telemundo as the second largest provider of Spanish-language content worldwide by syndicating content to more than 100 countries in over 35 languages.
Photo of Emilio Romano courtesy of Telemundo/NBCUniversal
