Fox Sports En Español’s “El Reto Final Nissan” Wins “Best Foreign Language Program” Honors at 13^th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A testament to the tremendously successful and collaborative partnership between The Vidal Partnership, Animus Group, Zeal Television and Fox Sports en Español, “El Reto Final Nissan,” the groundbreaking five-part soccer-themed reality series, won “Best Foreign Language Program” honors at the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications’ (NAMIC) 13^th Annual Vision Awards. The winner was announced at a private reception Tuesday, March 27, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. Fox Sports en Español bested finalists ESPN Deportes and TuTv/Bandamax for the network’s second win in the category in three years. The NAMIC Vision Awards is the only entertainment industry event recognizing achievements in multi-ethnic, original cable programming.

“What started out as one of The Vidal Partnership’s many innovative client solutions evolved into a groundbreaking branded entertainment property that not only struck a chord with viewers and consumers alike, but also delivered huge dividends for our advertisers”

“What started out as one of The Vidal Partnership’s many innovative client solutions evolved into a groundbreaking branded entertainment property that not only struck a chord with viewers and consumers alike, but also delivered huge dividends for our advertisers,” said Tom Maney, senior vice president of advertising sales for Fox Sports en Español. “We are delighted to share this award with our partners at Vidal, Animus Group, Zeal Productions, and Nissan North America as it’s a perfect example of the true power of collaboration and what can happen when you put clients and viewers first.”

In 1997, Mexico and the U.S. competed against each other twice to qualify for the 1998 World Cup. Both games resulted in a draw. “El Reto Final Nissan,” a five-part reality show that aired exclusively in Spanish on Fox Sports en Español in April and May 2006, tells the story of the original matches and of the intense competition that characterizes them through archival footage of the games and interviews with the players and devoted fans. In five, unscripted episodes, players who qualified for the U.S. and Mexico teams nine years ago were ambushed, persuaded to join their former colleagues, and put through intense training sessions and practices to prepare them for the ultimate rematch.

El Reto Final 2, the second installment of the branded entertainment program which will pit former World Cup teams from Mexico and Argentina, will debut on Fox Sports en Español in April of this year.

The NAMIC Vision Awards is the only industry event of its kind to honor cable television entities that have demonstrated a commitment to producing quality, multi-ethnic and cross-cultural programming content. The Vision Awards are judged by professionals from the entertainment industry, media, education and civic community. In addition to foreign-language, categories include comedy, drama, music and variety, news and information, children’s programming, documentary and comedic and dramatic performance, among others.

Fox Sports en Español’s Premios Fox Sports, the network’s signature annual awards show honoring the contributions and accomplishments of U.S. Hispanic and Latin American athletes, was also recognized as NAMIC’s “Best Foreign Language Program” in 2005. “El Reto Final Nissan” previously nabbed “Best Variety or Reality Show” honors at last year’s Annual Imagen Awards.

About Fox Sports en Español

Fox Sports en Español features more than 1,500 hours of live, exclusive sports programming in Spanish and, with few exceptions, English SAP each year, including InterLiga^TM, the Copa Toyota Libertadores, Copa Nissan Sudamericana, CONCACAF Copa de Campeones, and the FIFA Club World Cup soccer tournaments; the Major League Baseball playoffs, All-Star Game and World Series; the Caribbean World Series; and premier combat sports including championship boxing from Mexico and the U.S., Ultimate Fighting Championship and kickboxing. The channel reaches more than 13 million cable and satellite households in the country, of which 4.5 million are U.S. Hispanic households.

Fox Sports en Español is distributed by Fox Cable Networks Group and operated by Fox Pan American Sports LLC, an international sports programming and production entity jointly owned by HM Capital Partners, LLC and News Corporation’s (NYSE:NWS) Fox Sports International. For more information, visit Fox Sports en Español online at foxsportsla.msn.com.