| MTV Tres | |
| Picture Format: | 480i (SDTV) |
| Owner: | Paramount Media Networks (Paramount Global) |
| Parent: | MTV Entertainment Group |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English Spanish |
| Area: | Nationwide |
| Former Names: | MTV S (1998–2001) MTV Español (2001–2006) |
| Replaced: | MásMúsica TeVe (1998–2006) MTV Español (2001–2006) |
| Online Serv 1: | Affiliated Streaming Service |
| Online Chan 1: | Paramount+ |
MTV Tres is an American owned by Paramount Media Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global.
The channel is targeted toward bilingual Latinos and non-Latino Americans aged 12 to 34,[1] and its programming formerly included lifestyle series, customized music video playlists, news documentaries that celebrate Latino culture, music and artists and English-subtitled programming in Spanish, imported from MTV Spain and MTV Latin America, as well as Spanish-subtitled programming from MTV.[2] The network's logo is rendered as tr3s, with an acute accent over the number 3 (which in the actual audible name is a reversed capital É).
As of August 2013, MTV Tres was available to approximately 36 million pay television households (totaling 32% of households with television) in the United States.[3]
On August 1, 1998, MTV Networks launched a 24-hour digital cable channel, MTV S (the "S" standing for "Spanish").[4] On October 1, 2001, the channel was relaunched as MTV Español,[5] focusing on music videos by Latin rock and pop artists.[6] The rebranded network mainly utilized the eight-hour automated music video playlist wheel used by sister networks MTV2, MTV Hits and MTVX (later MTV Jams) without any original programming, except for repurposed content from MTV's Latin America networks.
Más Música TeVe, founded in 1998, was a network distributed in the United States on pay television that aired music videos from diverse Latin music styles, including salsa, cumbia, regional Mexican, and contemporary Spanish-language hits. Founded by Eduardo Caballero of Caballero Television,[7] MásMúsica TeVe carried the minimum requirements of educational and public affairs programming on weekends, and it was carried mainly on low-power television stations throughout the United States.
In December 2005, Viacom acquired MásMúsica and ten of the network's affiliated stations. The sale was closed down in January 2006.[8]
MTV Tres unofficially launched on September 4, 2006, when it became available on all subscription providers that recently carried MTV Español. On September 25, 2006, MTV Español and MásMúsica TeVe officially merged. The first program to air on the newly formed channel was the premiere of Mi TRL at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
In its beginnings, MTV Tres's programming schedule was significantly more repetitive than MTV Español was in its last days. The channel aired shows such as Hola, My Name is MTV Tres, the Top 20 Countdown, Los Hits, Mis #1s, Sucker Free Latino (only running two new shows per week), Latina Factor, Mi TRL, MTV Trespass, Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica 2006, Making the Video and Diary; the latter two and many other programs from MTV are merely subtitled into Spanish rather than carrying re-dubbed versions. These programs were repeated for most of the day, which greatly reduced the amount of freeform music videos played on the channel. As months passed, however, the programming became more varied and different, with changing music video blocks airing several times in the day.
On July 12, 2010, MTV Tres dropped the MTV name from its logo and name, officially rebranding as simply Tres.[9] With the rebrand, the network expanded its programming to include additional acquired MTV programs and series from Viacom's Latin American networks. Eventually, Viacom re-sold some of the stations acquired in the Más Música deal in California and Texas back to Caballero Television, and after its 2019 sale of its last broadcast asset before the re-acquisition of CBS Corporation, the network is cable-only.
Tres broadcasts on an Eastern Time schedule with one national feed for all providers.
Since 2014, MTV Tres broadcasts music videos for at least 22 hours each day (though like their sister networks NickMusic and CMT Music, the titles of the 'programs' now merely delineate an hour for electronic program guides than provide any actual video theming).
The following music video programs were hosted by VJ's who primarily host in English:
The network currently has no original or individual programs airing as the network switched to an all music video format in 2018.
Some reality and scripted series formerly aired on the channel, including MTV originals featuring Spanish subtitling, as well as from MTV Latin America and Nickelodeon Latin America (which were natively broadcast in Spanish and subtitled in English for broadcast on U.S. television). These types of programs aired for no more than three hours at a time. Some of the programs had little or nothing to do with Latino culture and possibly only aired on Tres to allow Viacom to maintain syndication rights to the programs without threatening ratings on higher-profile networks.
For a short time from July until October 2010, Tres carried a block of programming known as "Tres Jr.", which carried Spanish-language dubs of Nick Jr.'s Blue's Clues (Spanish-titled as Pistas de Blue and featuring Steve Burns-era episodes) and Wonder Pets.
Class A affiliates (and previously, former full-power affiliate KBEH-TV) carried a second feed of the network with English-language repeats of Allegra's Window and Gullah Gullah Island in order to fulfill E/I programming requirements set by the Federal Communications Commission.
Most of the broadcast stations that aired MTV Tres served communities with large Hispanic populations. Upon the merger of Más Música and MTV Tres, however, former Más Música affiliate WZXZ-CA in Orlando, Florida, switched to MTV2, before affiliating with America TéVé, and WUBX-CA and WBXU-LP in the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, North Carolina, market ceased operations completely. Eventually Viacom let their affiliation agreements lapse with their broadcast affiliates, and those other stations have become affiliates of other networks, or ceased all operations. Viacom's carriage agreements with cable providers also often saw the Tres cable channel preferred for carriage over a local affiliate, and most stations were unable to find cable coverage with Tres programming, notwithstanding existing complications involving low-power stations and cable carriage. KVMM-CD, channel 41 of Santa Barbara, California, was the only MTV Tres affiliate that still broadcast free-to-air until May 20, 2019, as well as the only over-the-air broadcast asset that Viacom had remaining, until it was sold to HC2 Holdings on February 15, 2019.[17]
| City | Station/Channel | Notes | Current programming | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresno/Hanford, California | KHMM-CD 23 | Formerly owned by Viacom | defunct | |
| KZMM-CD 22 | Spanish independent | |||
| Los Angeles, California | KBEH 63 (Oxnard) | Also on KBLM-LP 38 (Perris) and KPLM 25 (Glendale) | Canal de la Fe | |
| Palm Springs | KDUO-LP | defunct | ||
| San Diego, California | KSDY-LD | Was also seen in parts of Tijuana, Mexico | Nuestra Visión | |
| Santa Barbara, California | KVMM-CD | Formerly owned by Viacom & was the last over-the-air broadcast asset that Viacom had remaining until the 2019 re-merger between it and the CBS Corporation. | Azteca America | |
| Sacramento / Stockton / Modesto | KMMK-LP | Was a repeater of both former sister stations KUUM-CD & KMMW-LD, and was also formerly owned by Viacom | defunct | |
| KMUM-CD 15 / KMMW-LD 47 | Both stations were formerly owned by Viacom | Telemundo | ||
| Salinas / Monterey / Santa Cruz, California | KMMD-CD 39 | Court TV | ||
| San Francisco/Oakland /San Jose, California | KMMC-LD 40 | unknown | ||
| San Luis Obispo | KMMA-CD 41 | Formerly owned by Viacom | defunct | |
| Santa Maria | KQMM-CD 29 | 3ABN Latino | ||
| Denver | KLPD-LD 28.2 | Decades | ||
| West Palm Beach, Florida | WBWP-LD 57 | Independent | ||
| Atlanta, Georgia | WTBS-LP 26 | Also was seen on WANN-LD 32.2 | Estrella TV | |
| Indianapolis | WBXI-CA 47 | CBS Television Stations O&O | Start TV | |
| Kingman, Arizona | KMOH-TV 6 | MeTV O&O | ||
| Amarillo | KAMM-LP 30 | defunct | ||
| Austin | KGBS-CD 19 | Formerly owned by Viacom | multplexed into various networks | |
| Beaumont, Texas | KUMY-LD 22 | NewsNet | ||
| Brownsville, Texas | XHRIO-TV 2 | Programming aired during the overnight and early morning hours[18] also was seen around Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico | The CW | |
| Corpus Christi, Texas | KCBO-LP 49 | unknown | ||
| Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas | KATA-CD 50 | Defunct | ||
| Del Rio/Eagle Pass, Texas | KVAW 16 | Was also seen in major cities in Mexico near the border between Texas and Coahuila, Mexico | Independent | |
| McAllen/Harlingen, Texas | KMBH-LD 67/KTIZ-LP 52 | Secondary affiliation during early morning hours | Took over Fox affiliation from XHRIO-TDT | |
| Midland/Odessa, Texas | KMDF 22.1 | defunct | ||
| San Antonio | KMHZ-LP 11 | defunct |