Mediaset seeks to relaunch the Telecinco brand under the umbrella of “family television”.
Telecinco. With you always. With this claim, Mediaset yesterday presented its new offer for this season, with which it seeks to recover viewers who have been gradually dropping off for more than a year, before the departure of Paolo Vasile, a key man in the history of the channel.
The top management presented a new programming schedule full of notable changes, such as the return of Gran Hermano, the transfer of Ana Rosa Quintana to the afternoons and the premiere of Cuentos chinos, the new daily show hosted by Jorge Javier Vázquez, which will compete with El Hormiguero.
A renewed proposal that the communication group frames under the concept of family television, which respects all opinions and extols live broadcasting as a distinctive element of free-to-air generalist television.
In fact, the presentation spot, directed and filmed by siblings Alberto and Laura Caballero (creators of La que se avecina), ends with a family in front of the television set watching Telecinco.
The CEO, Alessandro Salem, defended that this reformation of the channel “goes far beyond the grid”. “I would speak more of evolution than change. We want to make a move that gives a feeling of total renewal, which does not mean denying the past. Looking at the past allows you to evolve,” he says.
Alessandro Salem admits that “we are crossing a desert and we are at the end of the tunnel”.
Salem admits that Mediaset has unfinished business. In his opinion, “we have to cross a desert. We are crossing it and we are at the end of the tunnel”.
The commitment to a positioning centred on family television presents a complexity, admits Salem, at a time when “there is a desperate individualism”. “We want to create a broad television offer, capable of keeping company to those who don’t have a family, or if they do, to gather them together in front of the television”.
Fridays and Saturdays will be the days when Telecinco wants to reinforce its family offer with, for example, Disney films, the company which, as part of its centenary celebrations, has chosen Telecinco as the Spanish channel to broadcast some of its productions (such as The Lion King and Frozen II).
Live broadcasts
In a context in which traditional television audiences have fallen as streaming platforms have burst onto the scene, Mediaset’s CEO has highlighted the value of live broadcasts. “Live is the soul of television; it breathes and has a heart if it is live,” he said.
The new Telecinco, after Vasile’s era, also seeks to use a friendly tone in the sector, far removed from the vetoes that marked past eras. Salem assured that “we are not against anyone and we have no enemies. There is only one thing on our minds: to improve every day and consolidate the pact with the public. We have to look at our glorious past, take advantage of it and not be afraid of change, always respecting all opinions”. The Mediaset CEO’s main aspiration is for Telecinco to be “everyone’s house, without violence”.
Juan Pedro Valentín (Mediaset), on the closure of Nius: “We have to change many things at Informativos”.
The presentation of the season was attended by well-known figures in the sector, such as the CEO of Ábside Media (COPE), Javier Visiers; the executive president of PRISA Media, Carlos Núñez; and the directors of El Mundo, Joaquín Manso, of The Objective, Álvaro Nieto and, as reported by this newspaper a week ago, of VozPópuli, Francisco Rosell.
