Paramount offloads Chilevisión to Tomás Yankelevich-led investor group

Paramount has confirmed the sale of Chilean broadcaster Chilevisión to Vytal Group, a holding company led by Argentine executive Tomás Yankelevich.

Tomás Yankelevich

The investor group also includes executives Edgar Spielmann and Jorge Carey, the current president of CNN Chile, who will take over as CEO of Chilevisión from within the country.

Carey served as executive president of Chilevisión between 2017 and 2021, when the channel was owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), a period during which the network rose from fourth to first place in the ratings.

Yankelevich, based in Miami, is one of the most respected executives in the Latin American industry, with a track record that includes leading Argentine broadcaster Telefe and WBD’s content and production teams in Latin America and US Hispanic, the company he left in 2023. During this time he was involved in the expansion of Otro Mundo, the talent-training initiative run by his mother, the renowned creator and producer Cris Morena.

The news lands in the same week as Paramount’s first quarterly earnings report as part of Skydance. On the investor call, David Ellison, chairman and CEO of the company, said that he expected the sale of Chilevisión to close in the first quarter of 2026.

The deal, now pending regulatory approval, follows the sale of Telefe, the other free-to-air channel Paramount owned in Latin America, acquired at the end of October by a holding led by local businessman Gustavo Scaglione.

“Chilevisión is one of the most-watched channels in Chile today, as well as the most valued by audiences, and we are confident it will continue to grow under its new leadership,” said Kevin MacLellan, president of global distribution and international at Paramount since August, in a statement issued on Friday.

“Paramount sincerely thanks the exceptional workers in Chile, whose dedication and talent have been fundamental to the channel’s success over these years,” he added.

“It is a significant achievement to have successfully concluded this process in a highly competitive environment. We thank all the companies and individuals who participated with commitment and professionalism at every stage,” Vytal Group said.

They added: “For our investor group it is especially meaningful to begin working with the talent and collaborators of Chilevisión to jointly contribute to the development of an industry we value for its dynamism, creativity and cultural relevance.”

Chilevisión is currently led by executive director Iñaki Vicente, who said in an internal memo that until the sale is officially closed, the channel will continue operating “normally under Paramount’s management”.

The broadcaster has seen multiple ownership changes over the past two decades. After being acquired in 2005 by the holding owned by future Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, it was sold in 2010 to Turner Broadcasting System, part of Time Warner. In 2021, WarnerMedia sold Chilevisión to ViacomCBS (now Paramount) as part of a regional strategy to strengthen its portfolio in Latin America.

Paramount’s decision to divest the channel is part of a wider Latin American asset-reduction strategy initiated more than a year ago, prior to the Ellison era.

That process has included sharply reducing its local original production and selling several assets, such as its stake in Brazilian producer Porta dos Fundos and now the Telefe and Chilevisión networks.

Paramount still holds a 75% stake in TIS, the production studio led by Samuel Duque with offices in Colombia and Mexico.

Nevertheless, Latin America remains among the strategic growth markets for the new Paramount.

During this week’s earnings presentation, the company said it plans to rethink the presence of Paramount+ in “selected international markets without a clear path to scale” and strengthen its focus on regions with “high growth potential, such as Latin America, Canada and parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa”.

As part of the drive behind Paramount+ in the region, the company appointed former ViX and Netflix executive Rodrigo Mazón as head of direct-to-consumer for Latin America and Canada. Paramount is expected to announce additional senior hires for its Latin American team in the coming weeks.