L to R: Alfonso de Angoitia and Wade Davis.
It’s a done deal. Mexico’s media giant Grupo Televisa and U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision today announced they have closed their $4.8 billion content merger, nine months after they reported their intention to combine their media assets.
The end of the transaction means the beginning of a new company named TelevisaUnivision, Inc., which will build on a united Spanish-language content library that has 300,000 hours of programming and an extensive portfolio of IP and sports rights.
As a result of the merger, the company says TelevisaUnivision now reaches over 100 million Spanish speakers every day – more than 60% of the respective TV audiences in both the U.S. and Mexico across television, digital, streaming, and audio.
Wade Davis, who had been leading Univision since December 2020, will continue at the helm of TelevisaUnivision as CEO. Alfonso de Angoitia will serve as Executive Chairman of the TelevisaUnivision Board.
“The close of our transaction marks a historic moment for our company and our industry,” Davis said in a release. “We are combining two iconic and market-leading companies that have a rich, shared history and an incredible portfolio of assets. This combination will create a business without comparison in the global media landscape.”
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The transaction brings together Televisa’s four broadcast channels, 27 pay-TV channels, Videocine movie studio, Blim TV subscription video-on-demand service, and the Televisa trademark and Univision’s U.S. assets , which include the Univision and UniMás broadcast networks, nine Spanish-language cable networks, 59 television stations and 57 radio stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets, and the PrendeTV AVOD platform.
De Angoitia stated the merger of “the two largest Spanish-speaking markets in the world has created a company with tremendous potential” and they are “ready to revolutionize the industry by delivering the most comprehensive Spanish-language content offering to audiences around the world.”
Plans for a global streaming service are moving full steam ahead, with a livestream “unveiling” of the platform scheduled for February 16, 2022.
