Please wait...
Please wait...

Univision’s Lee leaves to form prodco

Isaac Lee is leaving his role as chief content officer at US Hispanic broadcaster Univision and Mexican partner Televisa to launch his own production company.

Isaac Lee

Lee was appointed to the position in 2017 when Univision and Televisa merged their production arms. He becomes the latest departure from Univision following those of CEO Randy Falco and entertainment chief Lourdes Diaz.

Patricio Wills, who worked at Univision before becoming head of Televisa Estudios earlier this year, will take on Lee’s remit.

Lee is now set to launch a company that will produce across the US and Latin America and plans to acquire other outfits. During his tenure at Univision, Lee founded Story House Entertainment, which worked on Netflix drug dramas El Chapo and Narcos, and helped to launch mutiplatform network Fusion.

Univision has faced a turbulent few months, cutting around 200 jobs and scrapping a planned IPO in March. Falco was replaced by Vincent Sadusky as CEO in May, before Diaz joined AGC Studios, run by IM Global founder Stuart Ford, earlier this month.

Televisa has also faced challenges, with CEO Emilio Azcarraga Jean stepping down after two decades in the role late last year.

Meanwhile, NBCUniversal-owned rival Telemundo has caught up with Univision in the ratings, beating the former market leader by offering exclusive World Cup football and shifting its drama output to shorter-run series.

Haim Saban, Univision’s chairman, thanked Lee “for leading Univision’s content team with integrity and courage and helping elevate and position Univision in mainstream American media.”

Univision is estimated to reach around 90 million people across its portfolio, which includes 17 broadcast, cable and digital networks. It also operates more than 125 local TV and radio stations and an array of websites following its 2016 acquisition of Gawker Media Group. A sale of some of these assets, including satirical website The Onion, is now reportedly being explored.

RELATED ARTICLES

Please wait...