Telemundo Plans Spanish News Service : Media: The broadcaster is now talking with Reuters and the BBC to create the TV channel.

Telemundo Group Inc. said Tuesday that it was negotiating with Reuters Holdings and the British Broadcasting Corp. to create a 24-hour Spanish-language news service for Latin America, Spain and the United States.

Telemundo, which operates in the United States and reaches 85% of all Latino households, said the venture would rank as the largest Spanish-language television news organization in the world.

The service would be beamed from Miami via satellite to cable and broadcast stations. The target for launch is later this year.

Terms of the deal and the structure of ownership are still under negotiation, a Reuters spokesman said.

Joaquin Blaya, president and chief executive of Telemundo Group, said in a statement that the formation of the service would be “a milestone in Spanish-language television programming, which would revolutionize Latin America from an information point of view.”

There are an estimated 2.5 million homes in Latin America with cable television, with the most in Argentina, Chile and Mexico.

Telemundo said the service would draw on two major sources of news.

London-based Reuters Television, the world’s largest television news agency with 400 camera crews, would provide its international news gathering resources.

BBC World Service Television would contribute its international news and programs, specially made for the Spanish-speaking audience in association with the BBC’s Latin American Service.

“Participating in this venture will be another significant step for BBC World Service Television in its rapid expansion worldwide,” said Christopher Irwin, BBC World Service Television’s chief executive.

Programming would be produced around-the-clock from Telemundo’s central production facilities in Miami and would provide the basis for the two nightly editions of the national “Noticiero Telemundo con Raul Peimbert.” Reuters Television feeds more than 650 broadcasters in 80 countries.