Spanish-language broadcasting in the United States : a study of Spanish International Communications Corporation

The Latino population in the United States is large and growing at a rate faster than the population as a whole. As a result, Spanish-language mass media have developed in this country. Until recently, group owner Spanish International Communications Corporation (SICC) and the closely related Spanish International Network (SIN) together dominated the field of Spanish-language television. Although SICC and SIN served Latinos in the United States, most of the programming came from Mexico, and SICC was owned primarily by non-Latinos. The hegemony of SICC and SIN recently vanished because of two mostly independent legal battles: a stockholder's derivative action in federal court in Los Angeles against SICC and its president Rene Anselmo; and a SICC license renewal application that was rejected by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington because SICC exceeded foreign ownership limitations. Ultimately, the government forced SICC to divest its television stations.