MEXICO CITY (AP) - Grupo Televisa, Mexico’s largest television network, announced Tuesday it is joining with U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision to form a third company that will produce content for both that will be the “definitive global leader in Spanish-language media.”
The new company will be known as TelevisaUnivision. Both firms have been struggling to capture a share of the booming over-the-top video services sector.
Televisa said the new company will be in charge of producing shows, distributing and marketing for both Televisa and Univision and also will create a new streaming channel.
“The combined entity will have the content, production capacity, intellectual property, global reach and financial resources to aggressively pursue the relatively nascent global Spanish-language streaming opportunity,” Televisa said in a press statement.
Televisa has four free-to-air channels, 27 pay-TV networks channels and subscription video service. Univision has nine Spanish-language cable networks, 61 television stations and 58 radio stations, and a recently launched streaming service, PrendeTV.
Televisa depicted the nearly 600 million Spanish-language speakers speakers across the world as a relatively untapped market, noting “less than 10% of the Spanish speaking population currently use an OTT video product, compared with the English language market where nearly 70% of the population has at least one streaming service.”
Televisa will be the largest shareholder in TelevisaUnivision, with a 45% equity stake, but Univision CEO Wade Davis will lead the new company.
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