Broadcaster, Que Pasa may team up

North Carolina's largest TV broadcaster and No. 1 producer of Spanish-language media are poised to team up after months of negotiations.

Stay tuned for details.

The players are Capitol Broadcasting, owner of five TV stations across the state and led by Jim Goodmon, a well-regarded figure in the broadcasting industry; and Que Pasa, which owns eight radio stations and three weekly newspapers aimed at Hispanics. Que Pasa is led by Jose Isasi.

The two companies have issued invitations to "a media event of historic proportions within North Carolina," which is scheduled for Wednesday. But officials aren't saying what they will announce.

Local media executives predict several possibilities. They include a partnership, which could include joining forces to start a new Spanish-language TV channel, perhaps a cable-only venture. Another option is Capitol taking a major ownership position in Que Pasa, by far the smaller of the two companies. Capitol's TV outlets include the local CBS and Fox affiliates, WRAL-TV and Fox 50.

Capitol teaming with Que Pasa is further validation of the growing importance of the Hispanic market. A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimated that the number of Hispanics in the state has jumped by a third since 2000, to 7 percent of the total population. Hispanics pump about $9 billion into the state's economy each year.

For Raleigh-based Capitol, Que Pasa's allure could be its established Hispanic audience.

"It's expensive to do Hispanic [media] correctly," said Jon Bloom, general manager of radio station La Ley at 96.9 FM, which competes with Que Pasa's four Triangle stations. "It takes a lot of time and a lot of energy."

Meanwhile, Capitol's deep pockets could be just the ticket for Que Pasa, which is based in Winston-Salem. "I believe Isasi has been looking for" investors, Bloom said.

Mike Leary, publisher of a Raleigh Spanish-language paper, La Conexion, is betting that Capitol and Que Pasa will announce a new TV channel that would be affiliated with TV Azteca. TV Azteca, based in Mexico City, has more than 40 U.S. affiliates and has 300 stations across Mexico.

Leary said Capitol Broadcasting's CEO, Jim Goodmon, told him last summer that the two companies were talking about joining forces to create a TV Azteca affiliate.

TV Azteca spokesman Daniel McCosh declined to comment.

The Spanish-language TV landscape in Raleigh already is crowded with three affiliates of Spanish-language networks -- Univision, Telemundo and Telefutura. Moreover, the Telemundo station has been struggling for more than a year to broker a deal with Time Warner Cable, the area's dominant cable TV company, to get its signal carried among the basic channels available to all subscribers.

A TV Azteca station would make more sense in a market such as Charlotte, which doesn't have any locally based Spanish-language TV stations.

Capitol likely would run into regulatory problems if it tried to get a traditional TV broadcasting license in Raleigh or Charlotte, said Michael Tadych, a media attorney at Everett Gaskins Hancock & Stevens in Raleigh. But such problems could be avoided by starting a cable-only channel or using one of its station's digital signals.

Another possibility for a partnership between the two companies would be a deal that would enable advertisers to enjoy one-stop shopping -- ads in both English-language and Spanish-language media, and across newspapers, radio and TV.

Que Pasa has discussed partnerships with other media companies, including The News & Observer. Publisher Orage Quarles III said the two companies talked about an alliance in the past but nothing ever came of it.

"This is still a growing Hispanic market," Quarles said. "You have to get to a critical mass, in my opinion, to really make it work. If they're doing it for the long term, it is probably a smart investment."