Televisa, Univision to jointly produce Spanish TV content

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 'œdefinitive global leader in Spanish-language media.'ť

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.

'œThe 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,'ť 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 'œless 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.'ť

Televisa will be the largest shareholder in TelevisaUnivision, with a 45% equity stake, but Univision CEO Wade Davis will lead the new company.