Two of the biggest Spanish-language media companies have announced a merger plan. Univision Communications and Grupo Televisa are said to combine their media, production, and content. The new company will be called Televisa-Univision, the companies jointly announced the decision. The process had started last year with the ownership change at Univision and it has now been formalized. After the merger, the new entity will become the largest Spanish language company in the world. According to a person familiar with the development, the new entity will be managed by Univision Chief Executive Wade Davis. The person also said that the deal is likely to be closed later this year.
Davis said that there has never been a Spanish-language media company that was truly global. “Even Univision and Televisa were relegated to their own geographic regions. And this makes the move breathtaking. Especially considering the sizeable audience of the global Spanish language and its marketplace,” Davis was quoted as saying in a report. The new service of Univision also provides live streaming to Univision and UniMas. They are over the air broadcast TV networks of the company. Univision is looking to give a push to its streaming services by using the worldwide recognition of Televisa. Also, the company has a huge vault of Spanish-language programme that Univision can use in the Mexican market and even in the US and abroad.
Univision and Televisa have borrowed a page from the playbook of the Walt Disney Co. It is one of the world’s largest producers and providers of entertainment and information. The company had acquired Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox entertainment two years ago. The deal was worth USD 71 billion. The company was betting on the bulk up on programming. It wanted to take on Netflix by acquiring a majority stake in the Hulu streaming service. Televisa and Univision are now looking to help each other by announcing this multi-billion deal. But Televisa is struggling to adapt to the streaming culture. Despite creating over 86,000 hours of content, it failed to connect with the young audience. The company is now hoping to change things as it already has valuable rights to sports and special events.
