KBUENAvision Offers Mexican, Local Programs

I think that I shall never see

any Chicanos on TV

It seems as though we don’t exist

And we’re not even missed

And yet we buy and buy their wares

But no Chicanos anywhere.

Lalo Guerrero,

“No Chicanos on TV”

The lament of Mexican-American folk singer and satirist Lalo Guerrero notwithstanding, Spanish-speaking subscribers to cable television in Santa Ana now can see a lot more Chicanos on their TVs.

KBUENAvision began broadcasting this week, offering programming from Mexico as well as some locally produced shows and coverage of Orange County Latino events. A commercial service, it is a production of Comcast Cablevision in Santa Ana, which has 25,000 subscribers in the city.

Since Sunday, when it started with extended live coverage of Santa Ana’s “Fiestas de Independencia,” KBUENAvision has been broadcasting five hours a day, from 2:30 to 7:30 pm, on Comcast Channel 35 as part of the basic Comcast package. Producer Maria Rubalcava hopes to expand to nine hours daily within the next few months. The service also may be made available to Comcast’s North County customers, she said.

Most of KBUENAvision’s programming--including children’s shows, bullfights, sports, Mexican movies and telenovelas, popular Spanish-language soap operas--comes from the Mexican network Imevision. An hour of religious programming each Sunday is provided by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. Rubalcava said she is seeking religious programming from all segments of the county’s Hispanic community.

The current schedule also includes two locally produced shows, both produced and hosted by Rubalcava, a 37-year-old Los Angeles native who has worked for the Telemundo and Univision networks and most recently was an executive assistant to Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez.

“Adelante,” a daily, half-hour show, instructs viewers--in Spanish and in English--on material necessary for the second phase of the amnesty program for undocumented immigrants. The curriculum is based on material from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and was prepared by Rancho Santiago College’s Learning Center.

Rubalcava also hosts a weekly, hour-long interview program emphasizing topics of interest to the county’s Latino community.

Among the special programming on tap for KBUENAvision is a broadcast of a benefit concert by Lalo Guerrero, taped last month at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.

KBUENAvision joins at least six other channels on the Comcast system offering Spanish language programming.

The basic package also includes Orange County-based KWHY Channel 22, the Business Channel, which after 3 p.m. and on weekends broadcasts Spanish-language programming from the Univisa and Galavision services; KVEA Channel 52, which is affiliated with the Telemundo network; KMEX Channel 34, a Univision station; and two Los Angeles independent stations that simulcast news broadcasts and special events in Spanish.

Comcast also offers, as a paid service, HBO’s new Selecciones en Espanol, 15 to 20 of HBO’s current offerings, dubbed into Spanish.