TheBuzz Erika Engle

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Hola to more Hispanic TV, and more phone-book hula

A national rollout of Florida-based Spanish-language Mega TV will not leave Hawaii's Hispanic community out in the cold.

Mega TV is the brand name for year-and-a-half-old WSBS-TV Channel 22 in Key West, a station owned by Spanish Broadcasting System Inc.

In conjunction with Bermuda-based Intelsat Ltd. and Calif.-based DirecTV Group Inc., Mega TV's Hispanic programming will go nationwide Oct. 17, according to Isabel Bucaram-Montana, SBS director of marketing and communications.

"To be able to offer original programs that deal with topics of national and international importance, while covering the events that truly concern the Hispanic community, confirms that Mega TV has the quality and originality to become a major player on the national level, " said Cynthia Hudson-Fernandez, executive vice president and chief creative officer, in a statement.

Mega TV's shows will air on DirecTV MAS Channel 405 from 5 p.m. to midnight and are a mix of scripted dramas, comedies, news, talk and celebrity gossip shows, among others.

SBS's contract with DirecTV is exclusive, so the channel will not air on DISH Network or Oceanic Time Warner Cable, which also offer Hispanic channels.

On the Net:

» mega.tv

» www.directv.com

Hula, hula, hula

Oahu now has three competing phone books with covers featuring hula dancers.

The Ad-Ventures Hawaii LLC Oahu directory landed in TheBuzz's mailbox last week.

The cover painting depicts a modern hula dancer with a spirit-image of another, with Diamond Head on the horizon.

Diamond Head is the theme of the company's Oahu directory and founder Cindy Sortor got permission from artist LeoHone Magno to add it in.

"We were just looking to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture and enhance our (book's) Hawaiian heritage section," Sortor said. "We love this image."

Hawaiian Telcom began distribution of its dancer-adorned directory last month, as reported here Sept. 20.

Paradise Pages founder David Akina takes it as a compliment, as its directories have featured hula dancers since its inception seven books ago.

It won't change for differentiation's sake. "We're going to stick with our theme. We're not going to deviate," he said.

Another thing the directory publishers have in common this year is that each has undergone, or is in the process of an ownership change.

On the Net:

» yourislandpages.com

» hawaiiantel.com

» theparadisepages.com