When Jorge Fiterre started his company Condista to distribute Spanish-language television channels in the United States, he had one client in hand and had to hunt down more. Now he’s representing 15 channels and they come to him.

“Five years ago, it was a nice idea to have some Spanish-language programming. Now it’s a must-have for the cable operator,” said Fiterre, who’s based in Coral Gables.

To say Hispanic pay television is booming may be an understatement. There are now 75 networks, both Spanish-language and English-language, catering to U.S. Hispanic viewers, according to Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable.

Nineteen networks were launched in 2004 alone. And they followed 14 new entries in 2003. Still more are coming — five channels are slated to go up this year by the trade journals’ count. The new Hispanic entries represent just a fraction of the hundreds of English-language channels available and going on line, but it’s a hefty number for a market that’s still emerging.

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