Univision’s KMEX is celebrating 50 years of providing Spanish language news and entertainment to the Los Angeles market.

The station, launched in 1962, is now one of the top rated TV stations in the nation, according to the Los Angeles Times,

Latinos now make up 48% of the population of Los Angeles County, according to census data. In September, KMEX attracted an average of 447,000 viewers in prime time, handily beating second-place KNBC-TV Channel 4, which drew an average of 270,000 viewers. The 11 p.m. KMEX local newscast also boasts the largest audience.

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Aereo, the streaming TV service backed by Barry Diller, scored a victory in court this week as a federal judge ruled that the company could continue to operate while it fights broadcasters over the use of their programming.

A group of 17 network broadcasters had combined on a motion for a preliminary injunction against Aereo, which allows users to watch and record broadcast channels through their digital devices.  The service launched in the New York City area in March and currently costs $12 per month.

“This isn’t just a win for Aereo, it’s also a significant win for consumers who are demanding more choice and flexibility in the way they watch television,” Aereo CEO and founder Chet Kanojia said in a statement. Read more

Indianapolis NBC-affiliate WTHR is launching a local Spanish language news webcast today.

Anchored by Marco Dominguez and Rossina Lazaneo (pictured), the webcast will be taped in the WTHR studios and provide the typical mix of news, weather, and sports.  It will “air” every weekday on WTHR.com.

“The Hispanic population continues to grow in Indianapolis, so we’re extremely pleased to be able to provide this valuable newscast on the web,” said WTHR president and general manager John Cardenas. Read more

Aereo, the streaming TV service that launched last week in New York, has filed a second countersuit against companies that own stations in the market.

Reuters reports that the company, which is backed by former TV executive Barry Diller, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan this week against News Corp’s Fox, the Public Broadcasting Service, Univision, as well as WPIX and WNET.

The lawsuit is similar to the one Aereo filed last week against CBS, ABC/Disney, and NBCU/Comcast, and comes in response to the companies’ claims of copyright infringement. Read more

WTVJ has named Migdalia Figueroa vice president of news.

Figueroa comes to NBC’s Miami station from Telemundo, where she served as senior vice president of local content for the Telemundo Station Group, overseeing news and local content for all of the the company’s 14 owned stations.

“I am delighted to welcome Migdalia to the NBC 6 leadership team,” WTVJ president and general manager Manuel Martinez said, announcing the move. “She brings a passion for news, a wealth of knowledge, and a strong understanding of the South Florida market. This combination makes her the natural choice to lead the NBC 6 news team.” Read more

President Obama did another round of local interviews yesterday, sitting down with eight stations from the Orlando, Cincinnati, Denver, Los Angeles, Austin, Des Moines, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh markets.

The interviews lasted about five minutes each and focused mostly on gas prices and energy policy. “As long as gas prices are going up, people are going to feel like I’m not doing enough and I understand that,” Obama told WFTV’s Greg Warmoth. “Ultimately, though, there’s no silver bullet here.”

The interviews were granted to three ABC affiliates, two CBS affiliates and two NBC affiliates. Adriana Arevalo‘s interview was broadcast on 18 Univision affiliates. Video inside…. Read more

“It was shocking to see the crime scene.  I’m so used to seeing this type of scenes but when you know it’s your family, it’s just different,” Erandi Garcia, a popular anchor with the Monterey-Salinas Univision station, told KION reporter Rachel Ramirez in a recent interview.

Garcia’s 61-year-old father, Artemio, was shot and killed on Sunday as he was walking to his car, about to go to work.  So far police do not have any suspects or leads in the apparently random shooting.  Video of the interview inside… Read more

Univision announced today that TV news veteran Sandra Thomas (right) has been appointed senior director of local and affiliate news, a new position in which Thomas will oversee all news content for Univision affiliates.

“Sandra has left an indelible mark in the news business,” said Daniel Coronell, vice president of Univision News, describing Thomas as “a consummate news professional with a zest for not only getting the story first, but making sure the reporting is completely accurate.”

Since 1997, Thomas has served as news director of Univision’s KDTV in San Francisco in addition to working as Univision Television Group’s news operations group regional news director supervisor.

The company also announced that it named Marco Flores news director at Los Angeles’s KMEX, a station where Thomas worked earlier in her career. Flores, who previously served as news director for Univision’s KTVW in Phoenix, had been working as KMEX’s interim news director since December.

Tom Hanks is the writer, director, producer, and star of “Larry Crowne,” and to promote the new movie he added another credit to his resume: weathercaster.  Well, sort of.

Hanks appeared on Univision’s “Despierta America” morning show on Tuesday and did a commendable job navigating the show’s zany weather report (video above).

[Via Deadline]