Univision
 Logo used since 2019 | |
| Type | Free-to-air television network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Affiliates | See list of affiliates |
| Headquarters | 605 Third Avenue New York City 10158 U.S.[1] |
| Programming | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV 1080p via ATSC 3.0 in some markets (re-scaled to 16:9 480i for some affiliated stations) |
| Timeshift service |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Grupo Televisa TelevisaUnivision |
| Key people | Daniel Alegre (CEO) |
| Sister channels |
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| History | |
| Launched | September 29, 1962 |
| Founder | Debateable: Raoul A. Cortez, Emilio Nicolas Sr., Rene Anselmo |
| Former names | Spanish International Network (1962–1987) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| YouTube TV | Internet Protocol television |
Univision (Spanish pronunciation: [uniβiˈsjon] ⓘ) is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by Grupo Televisa and TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content.[2] The network's programming includes telenovelas and other drama series, sports, sitcoms, reality and variety series, news programming, and imported Spanish-language feature films. Univision is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City,[3] and has its major studios, production facilities, and business operations based in Doral, Florida (near Miami).
Univision is available on pay television providers throughout most of the United States, with local stations in over 60 markets with large Spanish-speaking communities. Most of these stations air full local newscasts and other local programming in addition to network shows; in major markets such as Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, the local newscasts carried by the network's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates are equally competitive with their English-language counterparts ratings-wise.
Randy Falco, who was executive vice president and COO since January 2011, took over as CEO in June that year after the departure of president and CEO Joe Uva in April 2011.[4][5] In March 2018, Falco announced that he would be retiring and stepping down after seven years as CEO.[6]
In May 2018, Vincent L. Sadusky, having previously been CEO of Media General Inc. and CFO and Treasurer of Telemundo Communications Inc., took over as CEO, replacing Falco.[7]
In February 2020, Searchlight Capital Partners and ForgeLight acquired a 64% majority stake in Univision, with Televisa keeping their 36% minority stake.[8] In December 2020, former Viacom CFO Wade Davis replaced Sadusky as CEO.[9]
History
[edit]Beginning as Spanish International Network
[edit]Univision's roots can be traced back to 1955, when Raoul A. Cortez started KCOR-TV, an independent station in San Antonio, Texas, which was the nation's first Spanish-only TV outlet.[10] The station was not profitable during its early years, and in 1961, Cortez sold KCOR-TV – now known as KWEX-TV – to a group headed by Mexican entertainment mogul Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta, owner of Mexico-based Telesistema Mexicano (the forerunner of Televisa). Cortez's son-in-law Emilio Nicolás Sr., who helped produce variety programs for the station, held a 20% stake and remained as KWEX general manager for three decades. The new owners helped to turn around the station's fortunes by heavily investing in programming, most of it sourced from Telesistema Mexicano.[11]
On September 29, 1962, Azcárraga and his partners launched a second Spanish-language station, KMEX-TV, in Los Angeles. KWEX and KMEX formed the nucleus of the Azcárraga-owned Spanish International Network (SIN), created in late 1962. SIN was the first television network in the United States to broadcast its programming in a language other than English. From 1963 until 1987, SIN was managed from offices in New York by Rene Anselmo, a U.S. native who had worked for Azcárraga in Mexico City for eight years as head of Telesistema's programming export subsidiary. Having supervised the launch of KMEX, Anselmo spearheaded SIN's expansion, first into the New York City area, when it founded WXTV in Paterson, New Jersey (licensed in 1965 and launched in 1968), next in Fresno, California (licensed in 1969 and launched in 1972 as KFTV), and then by acquiring WLTV in Miami in 1971. That year, Azcárraga and his partners incorporated these five stations (separately from SIN) as the Spanish International Communications Corporation (SICC), with Anselmo named as president.[12]
Over the next 15 years, SIN and SICC would create other top-rated Spanish-language television stations throughout the United States; these included KTVW in Phoenix and KDTV in San Francisco (both owned by Anselmo) and a part-time affiliation with WCIU-TV in Chicago. The Mexican ownership interest in SIN and SICC transferred posthumously from Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta to his son, Emilio Azcárraga Milmo, in 1972. On July 4, 1976, the network began distributing its national feed via satellite, which originally was delivered as a superstation-type feed of San Antonio's KWEX-TV, before eventually switching to a direct programming feed of SIN, allowing cable television providers to carry the network on their systems at little cost. Between the mid-1970s and late-1980s, SIN began affiliating with startup Spanish-language stations in markets such as Dallas–Fort Worth (KUVN) and Houston (KXLN), as well as with independent stations that previously broadcast in English.[13][14]
In Chicago, SIN moved its programming from WCIU-TV to new full-time affiliate WSNS-TV in July 1985. After WSNS was sold to Telemundo in 1988, what had become Univision moved its programming back to WCIU-TV, which agreed to air Univision programming on weekday evenings and weekends.[15][16] In 1994, the network purchased English-language independent WGBO-TV after WCIU-TV turned down Univision's request to become a full-time affiliate in favor of maintaining its longtime multi-ethnic programming format. WGBO-TV became an Univision-owned station on December 31, 1994.[17][18][19][20]
Relaunch as Univision
[edit]1986 became a pivotal year for the Spanish International Network and its owned-and-operated station group; in 1987, Nicolas sold his stake in the network to a partnership of Hallmark Cards and Televisa for 25 years, which formed Univision Holdings Inc. to operate the network and its stations. The Federal Communications Commission and SIN's competitors had long questioned whether the relationship between SIN and the Azcárraga family was impermissibly tight. Both the FCC and other Spanish-language broadcasters had long suspected that Televisa was merely using Nicolas to skirt FCC rules prohibiting foreign ownership of broadcast media.
The FCC and the U.S. Justice Department eventually encouraged a sale of the network to a properly constituted domestic organization. Spanish International Communications ultimately began discussions with various prospective buyers, culminating in Hallmark Cards (which owned a 63.5% interest), private equity firm First Chicago Venture Capital (which acquired 21.5%) and several other private investors (which collectively owned the remaining 15% held in a trust) purchasing the SIN stations for $600 million, while forming a new relationship with Televisa for the distribution of programs; the new group also adopted a new name for the network, Univision.
The first reference to the new Univision name was in "América, esta es tu canción", a song interpreted by Lucerito on her 1982 album Te prometo. The lyric that mentions the network is "cantaremos al mundo fantástico mágico de Univisión" ("we'll sing to the fantastic, magical world of Univision").
The initial logo under the Univision name Spanish International Network, that was used from 1987 to 1989; the logo was similar in resemblance to Televisa's station logo. Televisa still uses this logo today.
Joaquin Blaya, the network's new chief executive officer, would sign agreements to carry two programs that would change the face of the network. He signed contracts to develop programs hosted by Cristina Saralegui (who became the host of the long-running talk show El Show de Cristina ("The Cristina Show"), which aired on the network for 22 years) and Chilean-born Mario Kreutzberger – better known as Don Francisco (who brought his popular variety series Sábado Gigante ("Giant Saturday") to the U.S., which aired on Univision for 29 years until its cancellation in September 2015)[21][22][23] – for the network. Univision also began production of its first morning program, Mundo Latino, which was anchored by Cuban natives Lucy Pereda and Frank Moro; Moro left the network to move to Mexico to continue his career as a soap opera actor, the network then brought in Jorge Ramos to replace him.
To appeal to Hispanics and Latinos of all nationalities, the network soon instituted a policy of maintaining neutrality with its use of Spanish dialects, slang and humor on its domestically produced programs, enforcing program producers to limit the use of humor and slang relatable only to a specific Hispanic nationality. It also prohibited the use of English in its programming or advertisements (outside of product titles and dialogue featured in film trailers), most obvious in the use of Spanish equivalent placenames such as "Nueva York" rather than New York.[13] In 1988, Blaya also substantially ramped up production of American-based programs on Univision's lineup, reducing the share of programming imported from Latin America (most of which came from Televisa) on its schedule. With this, the network began producing programs for a national audience in mind, resulting in Univision's schedule consisting of 50% foreign programming and 50% U.S.-produced programming.
The first such program, TV Mujer ("Woman TV"), was a magazine-style talk show aimed at American Hispanic women, originally hosted by Pereda and Gabriel Traversari, featuring a mix of cooking and entertainment segments. The following year, Pereda was replaced as co-host by Mexican-American Lauri Flores, who previously swas director of programming, promotions, special events and public information at Houston affiliate KXLN-TV – where she also hosted a local community affairs program, Entre Nos. During Flores' tenure as host of TV Mujer, the program remained the #1 daytime show on Spanish-language television,[24] outperforming its competition in its time period by 33%. Telemundo's Dia a Dia, which debuted prior to the premiere of TV Mujer, saw its ratings diminish as a result. Sábado Gigante model Jackie Nespral was added as host of the program for its final year on the network; she was originally hired as a fill-in co-host while Flores went on maternity leave, before becoming a full-time host during the show's final season. TV Mujer inspired a series of other programs, including Hola, America ("Hello, America") and Al Mediodia ("At Noon"), which never garnered the ratings of the original concept and were ultimately canceled.
However, the network's fortunes began to wane following the Hallmark purchase, when Televisa terminated its programming agreement with Univision, taking along with it the company's popular telenovelas. The network opted to replace the Mexican-produced serials with novelas produced in South America; however, viewership for its telenovelas declined with the programming shift.[13] To make matters worse, with limited revenue from advertising, the sale to Hallmark left Univision with a huge debt load to cover. On February 1, 1990, Univision Holdings disclosed that it had failed to make an interest payment of about $10 million (totaling about $3 million to be paid to its bank lenders and about $7 million to holders of its junk-bond debt) that was due a day prior as part of its efforts to restructure its debt, citing insufficient cash flow for the missed payments. At the time, Univision had owed about $315 million to a group of banks led by Continental Bank of Chicago, about $135 million in senior subordinated zero-coupon debt and $105 million in 13 3/8% in outstanding subordinated debentures.[25]
On March 30, Univision filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to seek Chapter 11 creditor protection and financial reorganization unless it could convince its bondholders to accept an increased offer by Hallmark Cards Inc., in which they would receive $131 million for a face value of $270 million in securities on a blended basis, following an initial bid that was widely turned down by the bondholders.[26] The holders of two different series of Univision Holdings' debt accepted the bid and tendered their securities by April 13, preventing the bankruptcy protection proceedings, with Hallmark's offer to purchase the debt securities being completed by April 25.[27][28]
Revamp and competition with Telemundo in the 1990s and 2000s
[edit]
On April 8, 1992, Hallmark sold Univision 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.[29] The Cisneroses' ownership of stake in Univision led to the broadcast of Venevision telenovelas from Venezuela, & eventually, to the co-production partnership of Venevision International and Univision of telenovelas. The consortium ended up selling Univision for $13.7 billion in 2007.[30]
The sale raised concerns by several Latino activist groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition – which subsequently filed a petition to the FCC to deny the sale of Univision and its television stations – that it would lead to a drastic reduction in Univision's domestically originated programming output in favor of lower-cost, imported Latin American content, and allow Azcárraga to potentially expand control of American Spanish language television in the manner of Televisa's near-monopoly in Mexican media.[31][32] Indeed, this concern was effectively confirmed in the release of an FCC filing for the Perenchio-Televisa-Venevision purchase in which Perenchio indicated "the programs offered[...] by Televisa and Venevision will include at least a quantity of programs sufficient to fill a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week broadcast schedule", with local content consisting only of newscasts. This led Joaquin Blaya to resign from his role as Univision's president in May 1992 – after Perenchio had earlier assured him that the amount of domestic national programming on the network and its nine owned-and-operated stations would not be reduced before the filing was disclosed – concerned that it would limit opportunities to increase the amount of local programming content on Univision's stations.[33]
Blaya was then hired by Telemundo as its president and chief executive officer, and was subsequently joined by four other Univision senior executives on that network's production and management team. The FCC expedited its review of the deal, and approved the purchase on September 30, 1992, stating that the consortium was quantified to acquire Univision and that it was "unconvinced" by the petitioners' arguments that it would dilute the amount of American programming on the network.[34] Subsequently, in January 1993, Univision canceled three U.S.-produced programs – the newsmagazines Portada ("Cover Story") and Al Mediodía and the variety series Charytin International – resulting in the layoffs of 70 production staffers based at Univision's Miami headquarters and at Al Mediodía's base in Los Angeles; although two of the three programs were replaced by Televisa series (Portada was replaced in its Wednesday night slot with the variety series El Nuevo Show ("The New Show"), a Los Angeles-based series hosted by Paul Rodriguez, which had aired on Saturdays for several years prior), Univision executives cited that all three programs were discontinued due to low ratings and not because of any plan to eschew American programming with imported content.[35] Televisa and Venevision's stakes in the network in exchange the two foreign partners get 14.7% of Univision's revenue also gave Univision access to a broad selection of programs from Televisa and Venevision are locked up until 2017.
In 1993, Univision owner Jerry Perenchio, in a swift and unprecedented move, after the acquisition, appointed a 27-year-old, Los Angeles native, Venezuelan-born, Miguel Banojian, known for his in-depth of the U.S. and Latin American Hispanic market, his impeccable professional skills, as well as his proven successful ratings track records to turn around the operations of the station group, but mainly Univision's West Coast flagship KMEX-Channel 34 Los Angeles, generating at the time of purchase of the company, approximately 40% of the overall Univision revenue. Under Banojian, the network increased monetary investments in the stations, expanding staff and resources, introducing new sets for its newscasts, hiring and appointing KVEA's main anchor Jesus Javier, reporter Pepe Barreto also from KVEA, as well as hiring Andrea Kutyas, joining news anchor Eduardo Quezada, who worked at KMEX from 1975 to 2003, to lead and reshape KMEX's 11 p.m. newscast, which became the #1 late news in the Los Angeles Market. The overall re-organization effort, included, the purchasing of new live production equipment, updated production units, new master control equipment; new station antennas with more transmission power and a new studio located in Westchester, replacing the Hollywood studio which served from 1962 to March 1993. Same year, A Mexico City-based "MEDIA HUB CENTER ALLIANCE" was created by Televisa AND KMEX; both companies shared its operational, technical and resources strengths to increase market presence, Miguel Banojian representing KMEX, Alejandro Burillo Azcarraga, Shareholder & Executive VP of Televisa and Félix Cortés Camarillo VP of News & Production operations of Televisa, signed the alliance which included shared news bureaus in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Tijuana, San Francisco, Dallas, and Houston; Such alliance locked a leasing agreement of "Two" 24 hours transponders from its newly launched Geostationary "Intelsat 601", which served the satellite sharing between the two countries; the newly created satellite hub was later used by both networks to share programming and sales needs. One of the iconic marketing move to revamp the then dying "KMEX" station, Mr. Banojian and the KMEX group of engineers, also designed, created and launched what became, "The first U.S Hispanic Aerial Newsgathering operation", which included a brand new helicopter with call sign "Aguila 1" ("Eagle one" in its English translation). The news sets, production equipment, master control equipment, and antenna were upgraded. With all these operational moves, not only did KMEX-34 poise itself to acquire 70% of the Hispanic market share in Los Angeles market against its competitors including Telemundo, but achieved something unprecedented in U.S. television history: KMEX Channel 34 became the first Spanish-language television station ever to outperform English-language network stations (like NBC station KNBC, CBS station KCBS-TV, ABC station KABC-TV and Fox station KTTV) and overcame what had been Telemundo's national competitive edge against Univision.[citation needed] That year, Univision increased its advertising rates and was able to increase its cash flow, which allowed to go on to a purchase mode, acquiring KXLN, the first Spanish-language television station in the Houston market. Perenchio also invested $37 million, in conjunction with rival Telemundo, to develop the National Hispanic Television Index, a ratings system created by A.C. Nielsen to track viewership of Spanish language television networks. Perenchio also implemented new programming requirements in which non-sports programs were no longer allowed to run 20 minutes over their allotted timeslot.
Jesus Javier was hired as KVEA's main anchor, joined by reporter Pepe Barreto. Andrea Kuyas and veteran (1975 to 2003) KMEX news anchor Eduardo Quezada led the 11 p.m. newscast, which became the #1 late news in the Los Angeles market.
Also in 1993, KMEX agreed to share operational and technical resources with Televisa to enhance market presence. Banojian representing KMEX, with Televisa executive VP Alejandro Burillo Azcarraga, and Félix Cortés Camarillo, Televisa News and Production VP signed the "Media Hub Center Alliance", which included shared news bureaus in Mexico City, Los Angeles, Tijuana, San Francisco, Dallas, and Houston. The alliance leased two 24-hour transponders on the new Intelsat 601 to share programming and ads.
KMEX also purchased a new helicopter "Aguila 1" ("Eagle 1"), becoming the first Hispanic station in the U.S. to add aerial capability.
Univision increased its advertising rates and subsequently was able to acquire KXLN, the first Spanish-language television station in the Houston market. Perenchio also invested $37 million, in conjunction with Telemundo and A.C. Nielsen, to develop the National Hispanic Television Index to track viewership in Spanish language markets. Perenchio also implemented new programming requirements in which non-sports programs were no longer allowed to run 20 minutes over their allotted timeslot.[5]
In 1996, Perenchio took Univision Holdings public for the first time. Univision also appointed Mario Rodriguez as its president of programming; Rodriguez developed a strategy to provide programming that would appeal to both Latino immigrants and native citizens, and increased domestic programming production (much of which consisted primarily of news, talk, and variety shows) to encompass 52% of the network's schedule. Univision also adopted the standard Latin American model of programming its prime-time telenovela lineup to appeal to different target audiences (with novelas aimed children airing at 7:00 p.m., those aimed teenagers at 8:00 p.m. and novelas targeted toward adults scheduled at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific).[13] The following year, the network appointed former Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry Cisneros as its president and CEO, a post he remained in until his resignation in 2000 to head American CityVista, a contracting company that builds residential communities in inner cities.[36][37]
At the same time, citing its dominance in the Spanish-language television market, having consistently beaten Telemundo and other smaller Spanish language networks in the ratings, the network decided to refocus its efforts on attracting Hispanic and Latinos viewers who preferred watching programs on English language broadcast and cable networks to grow its viewership further. The strategy helped Univision to nearly double its ratings during prime time by 1998, ranking as the fifth most-watched American broadcast network by the 1998–99 season (beating fledgling English-language networks UPN and The WB), as it steadily began to attract bilingual viewers away from the English-language networks. In September 1998, the network added two new shows to shore up its struggling afternoon lineup leading into the highly rated Cristina. While one of the programs – the game show El Bla-Blazo – lasted only a few years, it experienced more long-term success with the newsmagazine that followed it, El Gordo y La Flaca ("The Scoop and the Skinny", although alternately translated as "The Fat Man and the Skinny Girl"), a Miami-based entertainment news program hosted by Raul De Molina and Lili Estefan, who had become popular with viewers for their entertainment reports on the network's news programs.[38]
In June 2001, Univision entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Raycom Media to operate two television stations in Puerto Rico, WLII in Caguas and WSUR in Ponce, as part of a planned and protracted purchase of the two stations. At the time, WLII had long maintained an LMA with another Puerto Rican station, WSTE, which Univision maintained.[39][40] Also around this time, Univision resumed its broadcast expansion by converting several television stations that it had acquired into affiliates of the network, including those in Raleigh, North Carolina (WUVC), Baltimore, Maryland (WQAW), Cleveland, Ohio (WQHS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (WUVP) and Atlanta, Georgia (WUVG) – including one acquired from USA Broadcasting that had previously been affiliated with the Home Shopping Network, which was left out of the group's charter affiliation deals for Univision Communications' secondary network TeleFutura (now UniMás) when it launched in January of that year. Both WLII and WSUR were sold to Univision Communications outright in 2005. Since that point, Univision also signed affiliation agreements with television stations owned by other media companies in cities such as Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Nashville and Kansas City – expanding its affiliate body further outside the Univision-owned stations and stations owned by Entravision Communications.
In June 2002, Univision acquired Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., owner of Spanish language radio stations in markets such as New York City (WADO), Los Angeles (KLVE), San Antonio (KGSX, now KMYO) and Dallas (KESS), in a $3.5 billion all-stock transaction. Following the FCC's long-awaited approval of the acquisition, the group was renamed Univision Radio. The negotiations to merge the two companies followed years of on-again/off-again negotiations in which each company made an offer to acquire the other, as well as occasional takeover attempts of other television and radio station groups (HBC once attempted to broker a deal to merge with the Spanish Broadcasting System, and made a failed attempt to acquire Telemundo before Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media acquired that network in 1998).[41]
In April 2003, KMEX news anchor Eduardo Quezada left for KVEA and spent three years working as a news anchor before retiring in 2006; his oldest son, Eduardo Quezada Jr., is one of the news writers and editors at KMEX.
In late 2004, a feud began between Perenchio and Televisa head Emilio Azcárraga Jean, regarding Univision's continual editing of Televisa's programming, and the failure to pay for rights to broadcast Televisa-produced sports and specials. The feud intensified to the point where Grupo Televisa filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Univision in a U.S. federal court in June 2005, accusing the network of several actions, including "unauthorized editing" of Televisa programming; Televisa also barred its most famous stars from appearing on any Univision-produced series and specials.[42][43][44][45] Rumors also circulated that Univision would form a partnership with Televisa's longtime rival TV Azteca, which for a short period of time, bought airtime rights and allowed its video footage to be used on Univision's news programs.
During the 2000s, Univision also lost several key on-air personalities to Telemundo, including longtime weekend news anchor María Antonieta Collins (who left to host the morning program Cada Dia), Primer Impacto anchor María Celeste Arrarás (who became the host of a similarly formatted newsmagazine, Al Rojo Vivo) and sports announcers Andrés Cantor (known to many Americans for his exuberant announcement of "Goal!" during football matches[46]) and Norberto Longo. By the middle of the decade, Univision overtook UPN and The WB – which shut down in September 2006 and were replaced by The CW, which Univision also outranks – as the fifth highest-rated network in total viewership; since then, it also sometimes posts higher viewership in the key age demographics of Adults 18–34 and Adults 18–49.
Other key on-air personalities that joined Telemundo from Univision or Televisa in the 2000s are Lucero, Pedro Fernandez, Kate del Castillo, Aracely Arámbula, Raúl González, Blanca Soto, Laura Flores, Ana María Canseco, Cristina Saralegui,