Newly merged giant TelevisaUnivision unveils Spanish-language streamer

TelevisaUnivision, the Spanish-language powerhouse formed after the US$4.8bn merger deal between Univision and Televisa, has unveiled its streaming offering, ViX.

Wade Davis

The eagerly anticipated platform, which TelevisaUnivision called the “first global large-scale streaming service created specifically for the Spanish-speaking world,” will launch with AVoD and SVoD tiers, offering around 50,000 hours of Spanish-language content across original series and movies, live news and sports, current series and library content from the combined entity.

“With the content and capabilities of the combined TelevisaUnivision, we are uniquely capable of delivering a groundbreaking streaming service to the nearly 600 million Spanish speakers around the world,” said TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis.

“For the first time ever, our global audience will have a high-quality streaming experience that provides a huge variety of world-class entertainment, sports and news produced in Spanish for Spanish speakers.”

Both tiers will be available in the US, Mexico and most of Latin America. In the US and Mexico, a beta version of the streaming app launched yesterday.

The AVoD product, set to launch on March 31, will feature 40,000 hours of content and more than 100 curated channels of “broadcast-quality content” and live programming, including a wide variety of telenovelas, movies from studios including Lionsgate and MGM, news and sports-related programming.

The SVoD tier, ViX+, is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2022 with 10,000 hours of programming, including original telenovelas, scripted series, movies, sports docuseries and football matches from leagues across the world.

TelevisaUnivision said the SVoD service will premiere more than 50 ViX+ originals in its first year, with roughly two new originals premiering each week. The roster of originals coming to ViX+ includes true crime doc Mi Vecino El Cartel, executive produced by Selena Gomez; La Hora Marcada – a rebooted version of anthology series La Hora Marcada, which helped launch the careers of the likes of Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro; and drama Las Pelotaris, produced through a multi-title deal with Spanish prodco The Mediapro Studio.

The company has been lining up talent deals in recent months, including a first-look deal with Mexican star Eugenio Derbez and 3Pas Studios, which Derbez runs alongside his producing partner Ben Odell, and Maria Dueñas.

On Wednesday, TelevisaUnivision revealed a newly inked first-look deal with Mexican-American star Salma Hayek Pinault’s Ventanarosa Productions. Under the agreement, Ventanarosa Productions will produce exclusive Spanish-language feature films for ViX+.

TelevisaUnivision said the existing streaming options under its umbrella – PrendeTV, Blim TV and legacy AVoD service VIX, which Univision acquired last year – will be “incorporated seamlessly” into the new ViX platform in the coming months.

“Let’s be clear: our new service is not a re-skinning of a TV offering,” said Davis. “What we are building is incremental to our TV business. Hundreds of originals, thousands of hours of exclusive live, premium soccer, live original news and much more in an innovative product and at an unbeatable price point.”

The merger between Univision and Televisa was first announced in April 2021. The deal saw Univision buy the content and media assets of Televisa in a US$4.8bn deal to create TelevisaUnivision. The merger involved a transaction of US$3bn in cash, US$1.5bn in Univision equity and US$300m from other sources.