ABC, Univision launch Fusion

ABC and Univision launched their new US joint venture channel with an exclusive interview from US president Barack Obama.

Fusion is targeting English and Hispanic audiences aged 18 to 34 years old with a mixture of 24/7 news, comedy and lifestyle shows.

The channel, which launched on Monday with Obama’s interview, has brought veteran Univision anchor Jorge Ramos on board to host its evening news programme.

Fusion’s programming will focus on topics such as the economy, entertainment, music, food, immigration, education, politics and health.

“We are going to present content that we think speaks directly to a Millennial audience,” said Mark Lima, Fusion’s VP of news.

“We want to infuse humour into almost everything we do, and we want to be smart and informative and kind of break some of the conventions of traditional television news and information presentation.”

The new Miami-based net, which is Univision’s first push into English-language programming, is being carried by Cablevision, Charter, Cox, Google Fiber and AT&T U-verse.