Univision
kushner pals with bro in parent co? Televisa
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mma 10 24
During a segment analyzing Vice President Kamala Harris’ and former President Donald Trump’s Univision town halls, host Elián Zidán failed to contextualize Trump’s connections to Project 2025, citing the network’s fact-checking division elDetector to misleadingly say it is false that Project 2025 is “Donald Trump’s plan if he is elected president.”
Project 2025 — a comprehensive transition plan organized by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to guide the next GOP presidential administration — is the conservative movement’s most robust policy and staffing proposal for a potential second Trump White House. Its extreme agenda represents a threat to democracy, civil rights, the climate, and more. The project has deep ties to Trump; as CNN reported, “at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025.”
During a segment called “Después de las Respuestas,” Zidán, who is the host of Noticiero Univision Edición Nocturna, highlighted a quote from Harris during her own town hall in which she said, “I urge everyone to look into Project 2025, which is Donald Trump's plan if he is elected president.” Without context, Zidán said that according to elDetector, the statement is “false. And that is [because] this 900-page text was developed by the Heritage Foundation … not Donald Trump.”
Video
CitationFrom the October 17, 2024, edition of Univision's Noticiero Univision
ILIA CALDERÓN: Very good, let's now invite Elián Zidán. He has elDetector of truths, lies, and also misleading statements from the candidates during both town halls. Elián.
ELIÁN ZIDÁN: Ilia, Felix, Enrique. That's right. During the town hall, Kamala Harris said, and I quote, “I urge everyone to look into Project 2025, which is Donald Trump's plan if he is elected president." According to elDetector, this statement is, let’s see, it’s false. And that is [because] this 900-page document was developed by the Heritage Foundation, an organization that also leads conservative reforms. Not Donald Trump.
The Trump campaign has lately attempted to distance itself from efforts to promote or speculate about “future presidential staffing or policy announcements.” However, Project 2025 is significantly more developed than the Trump campaign’s transition initiative, called Agenda47. And given that the Heritage plan has the backing of virtually the entire conservative movement and links to numerous former Trump officials and advisers, it appears all but inevitable that Trump and his allies will rely on the policies and personnel assembled by Project 2025 if he is reelected in November.
Connections between Trump and his allies to the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 include:
- Trump gave the keynote address at the Heritage Foundation’s annual leadership conference in April 2022, where he said the organization is “going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.” “He’s going to be so incredible,” Trump said of Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts. “I know that for a fact, because I know what he did and where he came from, and he’s going to be outstanding, and congratulations to his very exciting new role and a very important role.” Media Matters, [7/8/24; Twitter/X, 7/11/24]
- CNN reported that there are “nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump.” CNN’s review also found that “at least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, … including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors to ‘Mandate for Leadership,’ the project’s extensive manifesto for overhauling the executive branch.” CNN, [7/11/24]
- 31 of the 38 core Project 2025 writers and editors reportedly worked in Trump’s administration and/or transition. Twitter/X, [7/8/24]
- The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee nominated Project 2025 author Russ Vought as the policy director of the RNC’s 2024 Committee on the Platform. Vought, who served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration, has also authored a chapter in Mandate for Leadership Media Matters, [5/21/24]
- Heritage's Kevin Roberts boasted that Americans are “excited about the possibility for those areas where President Trump and Project 2025 significantly overlap.” Media Matters, [10/4/24]
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10/09/24
08/27/24
04/22/24
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mma
On MSNBC, former Univision president slams the network's Trump town hall as an “infomercial”
10/17/24
//BB
Image: Audience reacts to Donald Trump at town Hall meeting; Univision
Donald Trump isn't used to stepping outside of his fawning MAGA bubble. And he most likely thought Univision viewers were a sycophantic subset of his adoring inner circle. But yikes, the disgusted reactions coming from his mostly Latino audience last night told a different story.
Responding to a 56-year-old construction worker and former Republican who asked Trump to "win back my vote," the ex-president did quite the opposite.
Watch the expressions of contempt and disbelief coming from the folks at the Univision-hosted town hall meeting as Trump repeated his standard pandemic, election fraud, and J6 lies — including the preposterous line that January 6 was "a day of love." With arms crossed, eyebrows raised, and looks of sheer skepticism, I'd say this was certainly not a night of love. (See video below, posted by Meidas Touch.)
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1123 all infor trump, parent corp?
Univision hosts and guests whitewash Trump’s anti-immigrant extremism | Media Matters for America
Following former President Donald Trump’s interview on Univision with Enrique Acevedo on November 9, the network has aired a number of segments with guests and hosts pushing the false narrative that Trump has “softened” his stance on Latinos and immigrants.
During the hour-long interview, Acevedo allowed the former president — who as recently as 2020 called Univision “a leftist propaganda machine” — to openly pander to Latinos' “entrepreneurial” spirit, and to threaten his political opponents by insinuating he would weaponize the Department of Justice against them if he is re-elected.
This interview adds to concerns that the Spanish-language news giant – which in 2016 cut business ties with Trump and his Miss USA beauty pageant after his racist remarks against Mexicans – is shifting its stance on the former president. The Washington Post reported that “Trump is treating Univision and its new corporate owners like long-lost friends. He hosted a trio of its executives at Mar-a-Lago last week during an hour-long Univision interview that was notable for its gracious tone.”
The report also indicated that TelevisaUnivision Mexico co-CEO Bernardo Gomez Martinez, who has a “long working relationship” with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, was responsible for facilitating the sit-down.
Following the interview, León Krauze, one of the most prominent anchors at Univision‘s news division, announced on November 15 that he was leaving the network.
Univision’s friendly treatment of Trump is the latest indication that the network is warming up to the right, despite recent reporting — some of it from Univision itself — that the former president is as eager as ever to push cruel policies on immigration. Notably, back in August, Univision partnered with Fox Business and right-wing YouTube clone Rumble to broadcast the second GOP primary debate.
Univision hosts claim that Trump has “softened” on immigration
Two days after the Univision interview, The New York Times reported that the former president plans to expand the draconian immigration agenda from his first presidency should he return to the White House in 2024, including by “round[ing] up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale.”
And in September during an interview with right-wing news site The National Pulse, Trump claimed undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” language that is often used by white supremacists and nativists. Just a month later on November 11, Univision itself shared an articleoutlining Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration plans.
Nevertheless, in the days that followed Trump’s interview with Acevedo, some network pundits made the case that Trump has “softened” on immigration in an effort “to repair his relationship” with Latinos – flying in the face of the network’s own reporting about his explicitly stated policies and stance on the issue.
In the days that followed Trump’s interview, Univision regional and national prime-time shows like Al Punto California, Noticiero Univision, and Linea de Fuego have hosted numerous conservative pundits, including former personalities from Americano Media — the Trump-aligned Spanish-language network that ran out of money earlier this year — to defend the former president and argue that he is aiming for “a change in strategy” on Latinos and immigration.
Video
CitationFrom the November 9, 2023, edition of Linea de Fuego
During the November 9 edition of Linea de Fuego, host Luis Carlos Vélez hosted two Republican analysts and only one Democratic analyst to respond to Trump’s interview. During the segment, Vélez gave no push-back regarding Trump’s threats to weaponize the Justice Department and even praised Trump for his “tranquil” demeanor, which he said showed a willingness “to repair his relationship with Hispanics.” One guest, Republican panelist Vianca Rodriguez, argued Trump’s message could resonate with Hispanics but that “because of the way a lot of the media portrays him, they will obviously think the opposite.”
At the end of the segment, Vélez asked Franklin Camargo, another recurring right-wing guest, to evaluate how “a Hispanic person without partisan affiliation” would receive Trump’s interview. Camargo argued Trump deserved “a seven” for the interview and claimed an average viewer would appreciate a “more than fair critique of the current state of the country."
Video
CitationFrom the November 10, 2023, edition of Noticieron Univision
On November 11, the prime-time show Noticiero Univision and host Lourdes Del Rio brought on two former Americano Media pundits: Jose Aristimuño, a Democratic analyst, and Alfonso Aguilar, a Republican analyst. Aristimuño argued that Trump’s interview represented “a change in strategy because he knows that he needs the Latino vote.” Aguilar said, “He did very well and I think he definitely connected with the Hispanic community. I think he demonstrated great knowledge about issues in Latin America, and specifically, issues in Mexico.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 12, 2023, edition of Al Punto California
Finally, during a discussion about Republican strategy in the upcoming 2024 election on the November 12 edition of Al Punto California, host Octavio Valdez primed guest Sergio Garcia-Rios, a political science professor at Cornell, with claims that Trump has “softened his narrative” that “all Latin American countries are full of criminals and that they are the ones coming to the United States.” Garcia-Rios agreed that Trump is being “pragmatic” by “distancing himself a little bit from the extremist narratives that work very well in a primary.”
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crypto MRC latino:
In an eye-popping opinion column, Univision’s chief newsroom editor displays his contempt for the Canadian trucker protest and further clarifies the deep-seated institutional biases at the nation’s largest Spanish-language media outlet.
Daniel Morcate’s blast at the truckers, titled “Canada’s convoy of death,” reads like a conservative parody of what an apologist for totalitarianism might write about the trucker protest in Ottawa. Morcate’s role at the network makes the column all the more troubling. Per Univision insiders, Morcate has the final editorial say over the scripts read on Univision’s national newscasts. Morcate has held this role for over two decades, with the exception of a brief tenure as News Director at Univision’s Miami affiliate WLTV-23 during theLee-Coronell Reign of Terrorwhich, per insiders, ended in his ouster and return to the national news desk subsequent to a newsroom revolt.
We have most frequently looked at Jorge Ramos’ opinion columns, which is appropriate given his position at Univision and stature within the rest of corporate media. But Morcate’s role merits examination of his columns as well. This, after all, is the thinking of the man who oversees the scripts that are read to millions of viewers on a daily basis- published with Univision’s approval.
We made sure to archive the column, lest Univision try to nuke it like they did Maria Elena Salinas' unhinged rant after Jorge Ramos got himself thrown out of Donald Trump's press conference in Iowa in 2015.
Because it is impossible to pick and choose which portions of this wildly incendiary opinion column to highlight, again- published with Univision's consent, we have translated it from the original Spanish and posted it below in its entirety, as published on February 14th, 2022 (emphases ours).
Canada's Convoy of Death
By: Daniel Morcate
The truckers' protest that paralyzed Canada's borders with the United States is said to be on the way to becoming an international strategy. It already affects France, Australia, New Zealand and apparently threatens to spread to some regions of our country, such as New York. The Department of Homeland Security has sent a warning to law enforcement. That is why it is worth doing a brief analysis so that it is understood that, although it bears the attractive name of "freedom convoy", it was born rather as a nihilistic death rattle of uncouth and obscurantist right-wing radicals, such as those who wage a war without quarter against health precautions since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The Canadian protagonists of the protest are mainly people who don't mind getting infected with covid, much less infecting others- even members of their own family. Some belong to a minority of truck drivers who have refused to be vaccinated in a country where more than 80% of citizens have been vaccinated, including nine out of 10 truck drivers. And they had lost all the legal and political battles in their fanatical aspiration to refuse vaccination or observe pandemic restrictions. Well-meaning people, of course, have joined the campaign, monkey see monkey do, to display their weariness from the endless fight against the coronavirus.
If you look closely at footage of the protest, you will see Confederate flags from the racist South of the United States as well as neo-Nazi symbols. In fact, the Canadian media report that 60% of the funds raised by the protesters come from our country. The funds were collected online. And to a large extent far-right American media and politicians – like Fox News and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky – are energizing the movement, not caring that it has cost an estimated $300 million a day in trade between the two neighboring countries, which in turn has exacerbated consumer product shortages and jeopardized thousands of jobs in the United States and Canada.
In their radicalism, the rebel truckers are not only opposed to getting vaccinated as required by a Canadian government mandate announced in mid-January. They also demand the lifting of all covid restrictions and the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But in order to make their demands, they have placed themselves outside the law and the rules and regulations of one of the most stable and efficient democracies on the planet. They denounce as "arbitrary" the decisions of a legitimately constituted government, which they can question in the media, the courts and the ballot box. In reality, what is arbitrary is that for weeks they have obstructed public roads, threatened the safety and health of their Canadian compatriots and harmed trade between two nations whose governments were elected by popular will and who are subjected daily to the scrutiny of the free press and of public opinion. Their protest is an obscurantist fury similar to the one we have suffered from the beginning of the pandemic in the United States and in other countries.
The freedom that these angry protesters claim is none other than the freedom to get sick and infect us with covid. Whether they are entitled to the former is open for debate. But they definitely have no right to the latter. Their reckless attitude evokes that of the Spanish fascists who, in the midst of the Civil War, were guided by the slogan "long live death". Faced with this insane proposal, we must put forward exactly the opposite idea, that our lives and the lives of others have an intrinsic value that is worth protecting. That is why we must bet on health and observe the health precautions suggested by medical science and common sense; and support leaders who are guided by the same principles.
Canadian authorities have begun to break up the protests with ultimatums and arrests. For this they have the support of the Biden administration. But the siege of Ottawa, the Canadian capital, continues. We do not know how successful the extremists may be in spreading their obscurantist poison. But it cannot be ruled out while the pandemic lasts, with its aftermath of infections, deaths and economic volatility. What we do know is that extremists are fueled by a dangerous nihilistic morbidity that, in Canada at least, has only infected a small, ill-tempered and vociferous minority.
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https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/univision-allows-proud-boys-leader-lie-about-groups-violent-and-fascist-nature
2016 cambr anal do so blks? now latinx?
1120 mma
The Spanish-language network Univision delivered a softball interview segment with the leader of the far-right street gang the Proud Boys, allowing him to go unchallenged on his claims about the organization, amid increased media attention after President Donald Trump told the group to “stand back and stand by” at the first presidential debate in September.
“We are a group that is anti-communist, anti-authoritarian,” said leader Enrique Tarrío, speaking in Spanish. “They say we are fascist. I think that fascism and communism are the same thing.”
The Proud Boys is a far-right organization with links to white supremacist movements, including the violent “Unite the Right” white nationalist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and 2018. The Anti-Defamation League also pointed out, in the wake of Trump’s comments at the debate, that some Proud Boys members “espouse white supremacist and antisemitic ideologies and/or engage with white supremacist groups."
[vid]
"They accuse you of provoking political violence,” news anchor Sandra Peebles asked. “Are you violent?
“We don't practice unjustified violence,” Tarrío said. “But if we are talking about defense, then yes we are violent.” Peebles did not push back on Tarrío’s claim.
Last year in New York City, two members of the Proud Boys were sentenced to four years in prison for an attack against counter-protesters outside a 2018 event at the Metropolitan Republican Club in Manhattan. At the event, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes had brought a samurai sword to reenact the 1960 assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japanese Socialist Party, at the hands of a teenage ultranationalist. During his speech to the group, McInness also described the Proud Boys as“foot soldiers” for the right. In the wake of the brawl outside, McInnes exited the building and waved his sword in the air as he went to his car.
And just this week, a man was arrested in North Dakota for allegedly sending an anonymous email to a local newspaper, threatening to blow up a voting location. The message was signed, “The Proud Boys.”
Other mainstream media have also bungled their coverage of the Proud Boys, with CNN describing the group as being “a political fight club,” while Fox News has actively promoted McInness and the group for years.
Spanish-language media have also become vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. NBC News reported in September: “Conspiracy theories around the ‘deep state,’ billionaire Democrat philanthropistGeorge Soros and QAnon have become a constant fixture on Spanish-language YouTube programs, WhatsApp clips and pro-President Donald Trump Facebook groups aimed at a Latino audience.”
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Telemundo journalist Vanessa Hauc, gore event
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Univisión (Spanish pronunciation: [uniβiˈsjo̞n]) is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. The network is primarily dedicated for Latin American families who reside in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish-language television viewers in the world according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, (CEO as of June 29, 2011) COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva in April 2010.[1] In recent years the network has reached parity with the U.S.'s five major English-language television networks, and is often a strong fifth, outranking The CW, with some fourth-place weekly placings, and as of 2012, even first place rankings for individual programs over all five English networks due to the network's consistent schedule of new telenovelas all 52 weeks of the year.
Univisión is headquartered in New York,[2] and has its major studios, production facilities, and operations inDoral, Florida, a suburb of Miami. In 2009, another television studio was announced, Univision Studios, to be built in Doral.[1][3] Univision is available on cable and satellite in most of the country, with local stations in over 50 markets with large Hispanic and Latino populations and a national cable network feed distributed in markets without either the availability or the demand for a locally-based station. Most of these stations air full local news and other local programming in addition to network shows, and in major markets such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami the local newscasts carried by the network's owned-and-operated station(O&O) stations are equally competitive with their English-language counterparts ratings-wise.
Univisión was acquired on March 29, 2007 by a consortium led by Haim Saban's Saban Capital Group (who had previously owned the entity Saban Entertainment), TPG Capital, L.P., Providence Equity Partners,Madison Dearborn Partners, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $13.7 billion or $36.25 per share plus $1.4 billion in acquired debt.[4][5] The buyout left the company with a debt level of twelve times its annual cash flow, which was twice the norm in buyouts done over the previous two years.[6]
Contents [hide] |
History
Beginnings as Spanish International Network
In 1955, Raul Cortez founded KCOR-TV, Channel 41, in San Antonio, Texas. The call letters were later changed to KUAL-TV. The station was not profitable, and in 1961 Cortez sold it to a group headed by his son-in-law Emilio Nicolas, Sr. and Mexican entertainment guru Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. Nicolas had helped produce channel 41's variety shows, while Azcárraga was the owner of Telesistema Mexicano, forerunner of Televisa.
The new owners turned the station around, and in 1962 signed on KMEX-TV, channel 34 in Los Angeles and in 1968 signed on WXTV channel 41 in Paterson, New Jersey, serving the New York metropolitan area. This was the beginning of the Spanish International Network, the first non-English-language television network in the United States.
Over the next 20 years, SIN would acquire other high-rated Spanish-language television stations throughout the Western United States, and then expand the market to WLTV in Florida, KDTV in San Francisco, andWSNS-TV in Chicago. In the mid-1970s the network also began to distribute their national signal via satellite, first as a 'super-station'-type feed of KWEX-TV San Antonio, then as a general feed allowing cable television operators to carry the network at little cost on their systems.
Rename to Univision
SIN was renamed Univision in 1986, and its logo bore a resemblance toTelevisa's.
1986 was a pivotal year for the station group and the network. Nicolas sold his stake in the network to a partnership of Hallmark Cards and Televisa. The FCC had long wondered (and competitors to SIN had long proposed) that the relationship between SIN/SICC and the owners of Televisa was impermissably tight. Questions were asked and answered and the outcome was that the FCC and Justice department encouraged a sale of the service to a properly consitituted domestic organization. Thus began talks that ended with Hallmark Cards buying the stations, and forming a new relationship with Televisa for programs.
The new group changed the network's name to Univision. Univision's new CEO, Joaquin Blaya, was to sign the contracts for two programs that would change the network. Blaya signed Cristina Saralegui, who became a famous talk show host, and Mario Kreutzberger, better known as Don Francisco, who brought from Chile his famous program Sábado Gigante. Also, the network began production of its first morning television show. The program was Mundo Latino, anchored by Lucy Pereda and Frank Moro, who were both Cuban. Moro left for Mexico to continue his career as a soap opera actor and the network brought in Jorge Ramos.
In 1988, the network began to produce television shows with a national audience in mind. The first production was titled TV Mujer (Woman TV), a magazine-styled show aimed at Hispanic women in the United States. At first anchored by Lucy Pereda and Gabriel Traversari, the program was a mix of cooking and entertainment segments.
Pereda was replaced shortly after finishing her first year by Mexican-American Lauri Flores, who hailed from KXLN-TV in Houston, Texas, where she was director of programming, promotions, special events, and public information as well as producer and host of the local community affairs show Entre Nos. During Ms. Flores' time as host of TV Mujer, the show remained the number one daytime show on Spanish-language television,[7] outperforming its time period competition by 33 percent. Telemundo's Dia a Dia, launched before the arrival of TV Mujer, saw its ratings diminishing.
A model from Sábado Gigante, Jackie Nespral became the add-on host in TV Mujer's last year, hired to sit in while Flores was on maternity leave. Nespral became a formal host during the show's final season. TV Mujer begat a series of other programs, namely Hola, America and Al Mediodia, which never got the ratings of the original concept and were cancelled.
Revamp and competition with Telemundo in the 1990s
Univision then decided to expand its news programming in the afternoon and launched Noticias y Mas (News and More), with Nespral, Ambrosio Hernandez, Myrka Dellanos, and Raúl Peimbert. In the early 1990s, Hernandez and Peimbert left Univision and joined Telemundo, while Nespral joined the weekend edition of NBC's Today show. Univision had other plans for the moribund show—They revamped it, changed the name and the theme music, and installed a weekend reporter to be Dellanos' partner: Puerto Rican born María Celeste Arrarás, who joined the now news program called Primer Impacto.
In 1993, having purchased Univision from Hallmark a few months earlier, Jerry Perenchio appointed Miguel Banojian to turn around the operations ofKMEX-34 in Los Angeles, the company's flagship station in the West Coast, which generated a big portion of the company's revenue. Univision also acquired KXLN, the first Spanish-language television station in the Houston market in 1993. Banojian was then a 25-year-old executive from Univision's New York City headquarters, where he helmed the East Coast flagship station WXTV's (channel 41) newscasts. His outstanding results in Los Angeles positioned KMEX as the first Spanish-language television station ever to outperform the English-language networks, including NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox, and overcame what had been Telemundo's competitive edge against Univision.
2000s
In 2002, Univision entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Raycom Media to operate two television stations in Puerto Rico: WLII in Caguasand WSUR in Ponce. At the time, WLII had a longtime LMA with another Puerto Rican station, WSTE, which Univision honored. It was also around this time that Univision resumed broadcast expansion by signing affiliation agreements with Univision Owned and Operated stations in Raleigh, North Carolina(WUVC), Cleveland, Ohio (WQHS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (WUVP), and Atlanta, Georgia (WUVG), among many others — most of which were acquired from USA Broadcasting and had previously been affiliated with the Home Shopping Network. Both WLII and WSUR were sold to Univision in 2005. Plans for the network are that Univision will resume broadcast expansion by signing affiliation agreements with new Univision Owned and Operated stations in Indianapolis, Indiana, Detroit, Michigan, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Nashville, Tennessee.[citation needed]
In June 2002 it was announced that Univision would acquire Dallas, Texas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., a multiple-station operation specializing in Spanish Radio stations like WADO New York, KLVE Los Angeles, KGSX San Antonio, and KESS Dallas. The approval was long and hard. The acquired group was renamed Univision Radio. The negotiations to merge the two companies followed years of on again/off again negotiations in which each company would make a run at the other, as well as occasional stabs at other groups (HBC once attempted to broker a deal to merge with Spanish Broadcasting System, and HBC once tried to acquire Telemundo outright before Sony and Liberty actually pulled off a deal).
In late 2004, a feud began between Perenchio and the head of Televisa, Emilio Azcárraga Jean.[citation needed] The dispute was about Univision's continual editing of Televisa's programming, and failure to pay for transmission of Televisa-produced sports and specials. The feud intensified to the point where Televisa's most famous stars have been banned from appearing on any Univision-produced shows and specials. In addition, Televisa has filed a lawsuit against Univision for breach of contract. In recent years, Univision also lost several key on-air personalities to Telemundo, including long time weekend news anchor Maria Antonieta Collins, tabloid news anchor María Celeste Arrarás, and sports announcer Andrés Cantor.
Univision previously overtook the now-defunct English-language networks UPN and the WB, now the CW Television Network, as the fifth-most popular network overall, and in the 18-to-34-year-old and 18-to-49-year-old demographics it sometimes ranks higher than that. More advertising on TV is targeted toward those age groups than toward any other part of the viewing audience.
In the first week of September 2010 the network reached a milestone with a first-place ranking in the 18-49 demographic among all networks, English and Spanish, assisted by a primetime Mexico/Ecuador match and the finale of a popular telenovela, along with the English networks having traditionally weak programming that time of year.[8]
On April 7, 2005, Univision held a three-hour tribute concert for singer Selena, entitled Selena ¡VIVE!. The concert would earn a 35.9 Nielsen household rating, not only being the highest rated show of the night, but also being the highest-rated and most-watched Spanish-language program in American television history.[9]
On June 27, 2006, Univision announced that it accepted a $12.7 billion bid from a group of private equity investors led by TPG Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The investor group also included Madison Dearborn, Providence Equity, and children's television mogul Haim Saban. On March 27, 2007, federal regulators approved the sale.[12] According to the Los Angeles Times, the deal was closed and the ownership change was made official on that same day.[13]On February 9, 2006, Univision Communications confirmed that it was putting itself up for sale. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, stated that his company was considering buying Univision, but backed off that position.[10] Other expected bidders announced were Time Warner, CBS, Disney, Grupo Televisa of Mexico (under a partnership, due to foreign ownership laws in the U.S.), Bill Gates, and several private equity firms. Tribune Company was rumored to be interested in buying TeleFutura, a subsidiary network of Univision.[11]
However, Univision's shareholders filed two class-action lawsuits against the company and its board members to stop the buyout. One lawsuit claims that the board members structured the deal to only benefit the company's insiders and not the average stockholders. The other lawsuit was filed on behalf of a shareholder identified as L A Murphy, who claims that the board put its own personal interests and the interests of the winning bidder ahead of shareholders, and also failed to adequately evaluate the company's worth. In the meantime, more lawsuits were filed: one against Univision's records division for heavy-handed tactics, and the other by a winner of a¡Despierta América! $30,000 makeover contest who alleged that Univision broke its own contest rules. A long-awaited trial, it's expected to start in April 2008, at a Los Angeles court.[14]
Univision continues to gain broadcast penetration and has done so since 2004, with stations in Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Minneapolis and Nashville, among many others.
Univision's logo used from January 1, 1990 until December 31, 2012
On June 25, 2007, with the finale of La Fea Más Bella, Univision led all U.S. television broadcasting networks, including English-language ones, with a 3.0 rating out of 9 share, which also made the show the second most watched of the week.[15]Later that year, Univision hosted the first Spanish-language presidential debate in the United States at the University of Miami.[16]
On April 5, 2008, Univision introduced a new Saturday morning cartoon block, Planeta U, which features "educational and informative" programming such as Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, Inspector Gadget's Field Trip, and Beakman's World, all dubbed in Spanish. The following month, Univision Music Group was sold toUniversal Music Group and combined with the latter's Latin music label to become Universal Music Latin Entertainment.
In 2009, the network sponsored a countdown in Times Square, similar to the New Year's Eve event. On the night of June 12, at 11:59 PM (23:59) EDT, the Jumbotron-size screen ticked off the last 60 seconds of full-power analog TV in the Eastern time zone, culminating in the message "BIENVENIDOS A LA ERA DIGITAL" ("welcome to the digital era"). This was aired live by the network during Ultima Hora: Una Nueva Era. The ball was lighted in white but was not dropped, remaining at the bottom where the lighted "2009" sign also remained, despite the four-month delay from February 17.
2010s
2D version of Univision's new 2013 logo
In October 2010, Televisa agreed to take a 5% stake in Univision, which it can grow in the future, and to extend and expand the companies' long-term program license agreement. The new program license agreement will include Internet and mobile rights and cover key Mexican football (soccer) rights. The agreement will run through at least 2020, but more likely 2025 or later, compared with the previous deal's 2017 expiration.[17]
On October 17, 2012, Univision Communications unveiled an updated corporate logo, which was adopted on-air by the Univision network during ¡Feliz 2013!. The new logo shares the multicolored quadrant design of the previous logo, but now resembling a three-dimensional heart to represent its new slogan, "El latido del corazón hispano de Estados Unidos" (lit. "The Hispanic Heartbeat of the United States"). The logo's three-dimensional shape represents Univision's recent growth as a "360-degree", multi-platform media company, while its seamless form represents the unity of Hispanic cultures.[18]
In 2012, Univision and ABC News announced that it would partner to form an English-language news channel primarily aimed at Hispanic audiences; in February 2013, it was revealed that the new network would be known as Fusion, and launch sometime in late 2013.[19][20]
Affiliates
Main article: List of Univision affiliates
Audience
| Place | TV network | % of US households reached | Number of households viewable | Type of Television Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Univision | 55% | 62,810,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 2 | Telemundo | 48% | 54,816,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 3 | MundoFOX | 48% | 54,816,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 4 | UniMÁS | 47% | 53,674,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 5 | V-me | 45% | 51,390,000 | Spanish Educational |
| 6 | Estrella TV | 40% | 45,680,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 7 | Azteca América | 38% | 43,396,000 | Spanish Commercial |
| 8 | LATV | 37% | 42,254,000 | Spanish Commercial |
List of United States over-the-air television networks[21]
Univision HD
Univision HD is a 1080i high definition simulcast feed of the main Univision network that began operations on January 1, 2010 at 12:02 a.m./ET on its New York (East Coast flagship station ) and Los Angeles (West Coast flagship station) affiliates WXTV-DT and KMEX-DT, respectively. Univision's first program to be televised in high definition was the Tournament of Roses Parade, later that day.[22] On January 18, 2010 Univision began airing Hasta que el Dinero nos Separe in high definition, it becoming the first telenovela on the network to be so transmitted. The telenovelas Un Gancho Al Corazon and Sortilegioalso began airing in high definition on that date. Most other telenovelas now air in HD as well. All of Univision's 2010 FIFA World Cup coverage was also in HD. Noticiero Univision, Primer Impacto, ¡Despierta América!, Al Punto, Mira Quien Baila, and ¡Viva la Familia! have began airing in HD as well. Some movies also air in HD. DirecTV added the East Coast HD feed on April 28, 2010.[23] Dish Network has been broadcasting the HD feed since May 12, 2010.[24]
Programming
Main articles: List of programs broadcast by Univision and List of original programming by Univision Television Studios
The majority of Univision's programming consists of telenovelas and series produced by Televisa and broadcast on Canal de las Estrellas in Mexico. Prior to 2009, Univision formally broadcasted telenovelas produced by Venezuelan broadcast network Venevision. The network's signature program, the Saturday night variety show Sabado Gigante, hosted by Don Francisco, has aired on Univision since April 12, 1986. As such, Univision is one of only three American television networks that airs a first-run program during Saturday primetime (Fox and CBS are the only others). Situation comedies and variety shows, such as Parodiando, ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen, Vecinos, Una Familia de Diez, etc. largely make up Univision's weekend lineup.
Univision produces a moderate amount of original programming, including Sabado Gigante, Don Francisco Presenta, the daily morning music video program Tu Desayuno Alegre, the reality competition series Nuestra Belleza Latina and Mira Quien Baila, national news programming including the flagship Noticiero Univision newscast, Primer Impacto, Al Punto, and the morning news program Despierta America, entertainment news shows El Gordo y La Flaca and Sal y pimienta, and sports news República Deportiva. Univision also operates its own television production firm launched in 2009, called Univision Studios, which produces original content for the network.[25]
The network's weekend daytime schedule features a morning children's program block called Planeta U, consisting of Spanish-dubbed versions of American children's programs that comply with the FCC's E/I guidelines;[26] and also typically airs telenovelas that appeal to teen or pre-teen audiences on early Saturday afternoons. The network also airs some films, generally in weekend timeslots; but unlike TeleFutura and Telemundo, Univision does not air Spanish-dubbed English-language films. While Univision largely programs its affiliates schedules in a sense since the network's affiliates air the large majority of its programming, some Univision affiliates do produce locally-produced programs such as local evening newscasts and public-affairs programs; many affiliates that do produce newscasts generally air them only on Monday through Friday evenings and with only a few exceptions, do not carry weekend newscasts.
In 2004 Univision had a list of words it edited from programming to comply with United States federal regulators. The words affected had no negative connotations in some Spanish-speaking countries, but had obscene connotations in other countries.[27] In June 2005 Grupo Televisa filed a lawsuit against Univision in a U.S. federal court accusing the network of several actions, including "unauthorized editing" of Televisa programming.[28]
Agreements with other Corporations
- Mexico: Televisa
- Dominican Republic: Grupo Telemicro
- Venezuela: Venevision, Venevision Plus
- Colombia: Radio Televisión Nacional de Colombia and RCN Television
- Honduras: TVC Channel 5
- Peru: American Television
- Argentina: Public TV, Channel 9 and El Trece
- Chile: UCV Television and Channel 13
- Puerto Rico: Univision PR
- Brazil: Rede Record and SBT
- Costa Rica: Repretel
- El Salvador: Salvadoran Telecommunications
English subtitles
As of January 30, 2012, Univision is providing English subtitles of its weekday primetime telenovelas airing between 7-11 p.m. Eastern/6-10 p.m. Central time. Some weekend evening programming (such as Sabado Gigante) also utilize English captions, in addition to the native Spanish-language captions on CC1. The network joins Telemundo, which has carried its entire weeknight primetime schedule with English subtitles, from September 2003 to October 2008 and again since March 2009. The subtitles appear as closed captions on CC3. The network intends the subtitles to attract Hispanic viewers who may not be fluent in Spanish and other non-Spanish speakers.[29] Programs which include English-language captions during their original broadcast may also include them in future repeats airing outside of the primetime schedule.
Criticism
Univision was criticized since the arrival of shareholder Grupo Televisa, for their alleged preference in their programming to the Mexican audience in the U.S. due to increased Mexican productions on the network.