Telemundo has named María Celeste Arrarás as the co-anchor of evening newscast “Noticiero Telemundo.” Arrarás, known as “María Celeste” on her Telemundo newsmagazine “Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste,” will appear alongside current anchor José Díaz-Balart. She will continue to host “Al Rojo Vivo.”

The addition of María Celeste is meant to help bolster Telemundo’s evening newscast, which–while growing–is still a distant second among Spanish-language viewers behind Univision’s “Noticiero Univision.”

Univision’s newscast also has a two-person anchor team, led by Jorge Ramos and María Elena Salinas. Until the addition of María Celeste, Diaz-Balart was flying solo on Telemundo’s evening newscast.

María Celeste has also appeared on NBC News programming, including “NBC Night;y News,” “Today” and “Dateline.” NBC is the parent company of Telemundo.
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NBC’s Spanish-language network Telemundo has scored an exclusive interview with President Obama focusing on immigration reform.

Telemundo’s chief Washington correspondent Lori Montenegro will interview the President at the White House today. It will air on “Noticiero Telemundo” at 6:30 PM. The President last spoke to Telemundo in February, when he spoke to Jose Diaz-Balart, also about immigration reform.

As with the last interview, look for excerpts to appear on MSNBC and NBC News, in addition to Telemundo.

Important update: Univision has announced that President Obama will also be speaking with them, and the interview will air at 6:30 as well.

Rockefeller Plaza will once again turn into Democracy Plaza in the final week of the 2012 elections. The plaza will be the backdrop for Decision 2012 coverage for NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, NBC News Channel, and WNBC in the week leading up to the election.

On election night, a giant map on the Rockefeller Center skating rink will be filled in as each state goes for either Obama or Romney while red and blue banners representing the electoral vote will climb the front of 30 Rockefeller Center.

Democracy Plaza will be free and open to the public beginning next Tuesday until election day with several interactive exhibits for visitors including replicas of the Oval Office and the White House press briefing room, a video booth and caricature artists roaming the plaza.

As we noted, President Obama granted interviews to CBS News and Telemundo yesterday. The full CBS News interview will air at some point on “60 Minutes,” while the Telemundo interview will air tonight.

That said, CBS News picked out a few juicy parts to feature on its broadcasts early, and NBCUniversal, which owns both NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo, wasn’t about to let that opportunity slide by.

Clips from Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart‘s interview were featured on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” last night, and on “Today” this morning.

WATCH:

NBC News and Telemundo have announced their coverage plans for the 2012 Democratic and Republican national conventions. As expected, NBC will not have coverage on the Wednesday of the DNC, due to the NFL kickoff game. It will make up for that with two hours of coverage on Thursday, however.

Brian Williams will lead NBC’s primetime coverage, and will also anchor “NBC Nightly News” from Tampa and Charlotte. “Meet the Press” will originate from Tampa the Sunday before the RNC, but will originate from DC before the DNC. For the RNC Matt Lauer will co-anchor a split “Today” from Tampa, while Savannah Guthrie will co-anchor from Charlotte for the DNC. The usual suspects, from Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd to Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory, will contribute to the network’s coverage.

There will be a significant online component, although NBC will have significantly less online streaming than either CBS or ABC News. NBC of course has MSNBC, which will more than make up for that in its 20+ hours a day of coverage.

José Díaz-Balart will lead Telemundo’s coverage, and will anchor “Noticiero Telemundo” from each convention.

Much more information, after the jump.

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NBC News and Telemundo are both part of the NBCUniversal family, and for the first time, the two corporate cousins will be leveraging their relationship to cover a Presidential election. NBC News and Telemundo will be partnering on “Decision 2012″ coverage starting immediately, with NBC News senior VP Alexandra Wallace managing the relationship between the two companies going forward.

What do the companies get? Telemundo gets access to a massive wealth of political information and news provided by NBC News, while NBC gets insight and information related to Hispanic voters, a key voting demographic.

“In addition to featuring reports from Telemundo, NBC News and MSNBC’s reporters, efforts will include joint monthly polls, coverage of the candidates’ campaigns, conventions, and high visibility events around civic engagement and the role of the Hispanic vote,” NBC says.

The partnership is a key one for Telemundo. Univision is by far the ratings leader in Spanish-language TV, and that lead extends to its news programming. Univision is also partnering with ABC News to develop a new 24 hour cable news channel. Considering that both NBC News and Telemundo have news divisions, and they are already part of the same company, there is simply no good reason why the to shouldn’t share resources if it helps to keep them competitive.

More information after the jump.

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This TVNewser happens to be in Miami for the weekend, just as NBC’s company-wide Education Nation initiative lands in South Florida. Several days of on-air and off-air events will be dedicated to the impact of education among Hispanics. This afternoon, NBC’s Rehema Ellis will moderate a Teacher Town Hall which will air on South Florida’s Telemundo station WSCV. The town hall will also be available as a live web stream beginning at 1pmET at educationnation.com. Also today, Telemundo will broadcast a special education edition of the network’s Sunday public affairs show “Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart.”

We’ll catch up with “Today” show news anchor Natalie Morales tomorrow who will be here to moderate a panel discussion Monday night at the New World Center in Miami Beach with several guests including Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

Former Univision News president Alina Falcon (pictured right) will be taking over as the chief news executive at NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language network Telemundo, TVNewser has learned. Falcon will become senior executive VP of news and alternative programming at the network in early December, reporting to Telemundo president Emilio Romano.

In her new role Falcon will oversee all news programming for Telemundo, as well as all alternative and reality programming.

Falcon stepped down from her position as  Univision’s chief news and sports executive last December, transitioning to a consulting role with the company. She had been at Univision for 26 years.

Telemundo has been without a news chief since September, when Ramon Escobar stepped down following the departure of network president Don Browne.

The move is significant, as Falcon (once again) becomes the only woman to lead a major U.S. TV news operation. As Romano notes in the official announcement,  Falcon has a proven track record in news, which Telemundo needs if it wants to compete with Univision in that arena.

Update: It’s official. Release after the jump.

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