Jose Liberman's dream: make big money quietly with Spanish TV.

It's like the story of the little engine that could. Liberman Broadcasting (LBI) is not afraid to take on challenges, as made evident by its pursuit of Hispanic TV giants like Univision (a Haim Saban group) and Telemundo (an NBC-Universal company).

According to Lenard Liberman, the group's executive vice president, LBI now has the two top-rated shows after Univision in its Los Angeles flagship market, an area where there are six over-the-air Spanish-language TV stations.

The next challenge for LBI is to expand Estrella, its national TV signal, beyond the current 70 percent coverage that is accomplished with 24 affiliates, of which six are owned and operated (O&O). Estrella TV was launched last September as a 24/7 service with 56 hours a week of new programming, mostly produced at LBI's three sound stage studio complex in Burbank, California.

Estrella TV affiliates receive 40 percent of the ad inventory, while LBI retains the remaining 60 percent. Programming generated in Burbank is retrieved from its server storage via IPTV by LBI's Dallas center, which then packages it in a feed for two time zones.

Estrella TV was able to achieve its vast coverage thanks to timely digital conversion, which gave U.S. TV stations three extra channels to program. In the words of Bill Garcia, the …