Dish TV Service to Carry Si Network

Si TV, an English-language television network geared toward U.S. Latinos, will be carried nationally on the Dish Network satellite TV service beginning this summer, Si TV said.

Dish Network already has a “Latino package,” which bundles 23 Spanish-language channels. But Si TV will be the first of its 500-odd channels to target the Latino market with English-language programming.

“For years, people have ignored the young demographic that doesn’t speak Spanish but needs a voice and wants a place to call home,” Si TV co-founder and co-Chairman Jeff Valdez said.

Dish Network, a unit of Littleton, Colo.-based EchoStar Communications Corp., has about 8 million U.S. subscribers.

Si TV grew from a Los Angeles-based production company founded in 1997 by Valdez and partner Bruce Barshop. The pair are producers of “The Brothers Garcia,” a sitcom that will begin its fourth season on Nickelodeon in March.

Other Latino-themed programs to have made a mark recently include Showtime’s “Resurrection Boulevard,” ABC’s “The George Lopez Show” and PBS’ “American Family.”