History
Univision Communications Inc. was founded in 1961, as Spanish International Communications Corporation (parent of Spanish International Network) by Rene Anselmo, an American-Mexican TV executive Emilio Nicolas Sr., owner of KUAL-TV (now KWEX-DT) in San Antonio, and Mexican radio-TV magnate Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, head of Telesistema Mexicano (now Televisa). They consolidated the operations of some independent Latino stations into a network. In 1987, Nicolas sold his part of the company to Hallmark Cards, and the name was changed to Univision Holdings. By 1992, Hallmark re-incorporated the company to Univision Communications.[9]
On April 8, 1992, Hallmark sold Univision Communications to a group that included Los Angeles-based investor A. Jerrold Perenchio (a former partner in Norman Lear's Embassy Communications, who was outbid by the Hallmark-led consortium for the network in 1987), Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, and brothers Ricardo and Gustavo Cisneros (co-owners of Venezuelan broadcaster Venevision) for $550 million, in order to refocus its television operation efforts on cable provider Cencom Cable Associates, which it acquired the previous year for about $500 million. In order to comply with FCC rules on foreign ownership of television stations, the deal was structured to give Perenchio a controlling 75% interest in Univision's station group and 50% ownership of the network itself; Azcárraga and the Cisneroses held a 25% stake in the network and a 12.5% stake in the station group. The deal placed Univision under common ownership with competing cable channel Galavisión, which the Azcárraga-run Grupo Televisa owned at the time.[10] The Cisneroses' ownership of stake in Univision Communications led to the broadcast of Venevision telenovelas from Venezuela, & eventually, to the co-production partnership of Venevision International and Univision Communications of telenovelas. The consortium ended up selling Univision Communications for $13.7 billion in 2007.[11]
From September 1996 to April 2007, Univision Communications Inc. traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UVN.
In 2001, Univision Communications Inc. acquired USA Broadcasting, the station group of USA Networks, which included 13 full-power television stations. Most of these stations became part of a new network called TeleFutura, which it launched in 2002.[12] Others joined Univision. In 2003, Univision completed the acquisition of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation to form Univision Audio Network.[13]
Prior to 2007,[14] its headquarters was in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles.[15][16]
In March 2007, Univision Communications was sold to Broadcasting Media Partners, a group led by Haim Saban that included Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners., TPG Capital, L.P., Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Saban Capital Group.
In May 2008, Univision Music Group was sold to Universal Music Group and combined with its Latin label to become Universal Music Latin Entertainment.
In 2009, Univision Interactive Media was formed to house Univision.com, Univision Mobile, and an array of digital offerings.[17] Univision On Demand also debuted in 2009, through distribution partners.[18] That same year Univision also created Univision Studios, a new production arm focused on producing and co-producing content for the company's platforms.[19]
Randy Falco became Univision's CEO in 2011.[20] Under Falco, the company began to expand its platforms, including launching new cable networks such as Univision Deportes Network and Univision Tlnovelas, as well as English-language properties targeting Hispanic audiences such as Flama (a YouTube channel featuring content aimed toward Hispanic young adults),[21] and Fusion, a news channel operated as a joint venture with Disney–ABC Television Group.[22][23]
On January 7, 2013, TeleFutura rebranded as UniMás.[24][25] In May 2013, Univision announced an investment in Robert Rodriguez's new English-language cable channel El Rey Network.[26]
In 2014, UCI launched Univision Mobile, La Fabrica and TheFlama.com and also continued to increase the reach of Univision Deportes, Fusion, and El Rey.[27][28][29][30] Also in 2014, UCI expanded its partnership with Hulu, building on its launch as the first Spanish-language offering on Hulu in 2012.[31]
On August 16, 2016, Univision Communications purchased Gawker Media for $135 million.[32] The sale included six Gawker blogs – Kotaku, Jalopnik, Lifehacker, Gizmodo (and its sub-site io9), Deadspin, and Jezebel – but not the flagship Gawker site, which shut down in late August.[33] On September 21, 2016, the Gawker Media assets acquisition was completed and said assets were moved to Gizmodo Media Group.[34][35][36]
On May 30, 2018, Vincent Sadusky, formerly of Telemundo and the local station groups LIN Media and Media General, was appointed the new CEO of Univision, replacing outgoing Randy Falco.[37] Under Sadusky, the company began to backpedal on its attempts to diversify into English-speaking markets, electing to focus more on its core Spanish-language properties targeting Hispanics. As part of this effort, Gizmodo Media Group was divested to private-equity firm Great Hill Partners in April 2019.[36][38]
On July 20, 2019, Univision rebranded its Univision Deportes Network cable channel as TUDN, as part of a collaboration with its content partner Televisa.[39][40][41]
On February 25, 2020, private investment firms Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight (launched by founder & CEO & ex-Viacom CFO Wade Davis) agreed to acquire 64% controlling stake in the company held by its investment group ownership, while minority owner Televisa would continue to hold its 36% stake. As a result, the company would be led by Davis as CEO, eventually replacing outgoing Vincent Sandusky. The sale was completed on December 29, 2020.[42][43]
On April 13, 2021, Televisa announced they would sell their media, content, and production assets to Univision. The new company would be known as TelevisaUnivision.[44] As part of the transaction, Televisa kept the company's telecommunication and multichannel television service assets, as well as broadcast licenses for stations that air Televisa's four Mexican networks; the Mexican news operations were spun off into Tritón Comunicaciones.[45] The merger was approved by Mexican Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) on September 15, 2021, and later by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on January 24, 2022, with the transaction completed on January 31 the same year.[46][47]
In February 2022, TelevisaUnivision announced the relaunch of ViX as a streaming platform featuring both an ad-supported and a subscription tier, with an intended rollout of the AVOD tier set for March 31, 2022.[48]
In September 2022, TelevisaUnivision completed the acquisition of American OTT streaming service Pantaya from Hemisphere Media Group in exchange for cash and select Puerto Rican radio assets, including San Juan-based WKAQ (AM) and WKAQ-FM.[49][50] That same month, TelevisaUnivision acquired the rights to the Latin American Music Awards from Dick Clark Productions.[51]
On September 27, 2023, TelevisaUnivision partnered with the Republican National Committee, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, FOX Business, and Rumble to host the second Republican presidential primary debate from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.[52][53]
In November 2023, TelevisaUnivision faced serious backlash from Democrats and the Hispanic community when network executives decided to air an exclusive hourlong interview with former President Donald Trump on Univision in Spanish and UNIMAS and ViX in English with Spanish subtitles, despite Trump's vulgar comments towards the Hispanic community. Many Latino celebrities, politicians, and activists have called for a boycott and branding the network as "MAGAvision".[54][55][56]
On December 2, 2024, TelevisaUnivision CEO Daniel Alegre announced that, as part of a major restructuring plan, it would be laying off a “mid to high single digit percentage” of its workforce (between 5-9%, or 120 people, of its 14,000 staff), both in the US and Mexico “with the goal of reforming our position for 2025 and beyond.” The company is facing challenges like cord-cutting and an unsettled ad market. This coincided with the introduction of a revamped leadership team and the creation of a “Global Content Organization”.[57]
