Telemundo Launches Free Local News Channels on Samsung TV Plus in California, Florida; More Channels Coming
Spanish-language users of Samsung’s free streaming service Samsung TV Plus in Florida and California now have a new way to access live, breaking news. Samsung TV Plus is adding two new channels from Telemundo that will offer live news and original content.
The first two channels rolling out on Wednesday are Noticias Telemundo California and Noticias Telemundo Florida. Two additional channels — Noticias Telemundo Noreste and Noticias Telemundo Texas — are expected to launch in April in the northeast United States and Texas respectively.
“As Telemundo stations continue to lead the industry as the only premium Spanish-language local news FAST channels in the streaming space,” Telemundo EVP Ozzie Martinez said, “we are excited to make our Telemundo stations’ best-in-class journalism and content available to reach millions of Samsung TV Plus users and introduce new audiences to our best-in-class news and programming.”
Each channel is powered by Telemundo-owned regional stations, so all of the news, reporting, and commentary will be focused on the specific regional markets. The addition of these channels marks the first Spanish-language news content made available on Samsung TV Plus. The service is available on all Samsung Smart TVs made between 2016-2023, as well as most Samsung Galaxy mobile devices.
“We’re proud to expand our partnership with Samsung and bring our premium Spanish-language local news from Telemundo stations to Samsung TV Plus users,” NBCUniversal’s president of content distribution Matt Schnaars said. “As we continue to grow NBCUniversal’s footprint in the FAST landscape, we recognize the diversity of NBCUniversal viewers, importance of local news programming and are committed to offering premium content that resonates with Hispanic audiences everywhere.”
Telemundo and parent company NBCU have worked diligently to expand the reach of these free news channels in recent months. In November of last year, the same four Telemundo-powered channels were made available to customers of The Roku Channel.
“With our expanded NBCUniversal partnership and the arrival of Spanish language channels from Telemundo, we’re excited to offer Samsung TV Plus viewers even more access to premium, local news content completely for free,” Samsung TV Plus’s senior director of content Takashi Nakano said. “Samsung TV Plus provides one of the most comprehensive news offerings spanning international, business, and local, and we are proud to continue our valued collaboration with NBCUniversal and Telemundo to empower viewers to easily access the best in local news from coast-to-coast.”
Spanish-language streaming is seeing an upswing in popularity as more viewing options become available. The free Spanish streamer ViX has 25 million monthly active users as of its most recent quarterly earnings report, which was aided no doubt by its addition to Prime Video Channels in November.
In addition to Telemundo and NBC local stations, NBCU has made programming including Dateline 24/7 and NBC News NOW available to Samsung TV Plus users. The platform now offers more than 250 channels in the U.S., and a total of 1,900 channels globally across 24 countries. The service’s reach could be expanding even more widely soon, as Samsung has reportedly approached other TV manufacturers about the possibility of carrying Samsung TV Plus.
Samsung TV Plus
Samsung TV Plus is a free streaming live TV and on-demand service that is available on select Samsung TV’s, mobile devices, and refrigerators. Watch 200+ live TV channels and thousands of movies and shows on demand, all for free.