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overview
holdings
landmarks
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overview
This profile covers the US-based Univision broadcasting
network.
It covers -
overview
Univision is the fifth-largest US television network (behind
Fox, ABC,
NBC and CBS),
best know for its telenovelas. It reaches an estimated
98% of Spanish-speaking households in the US - a market
with US$480 billion annual buying power - through its
62 TV stations, over 90 affiliate stations and more than
2,000 cable affiliates.
In addition to that network, which dwarfs NBC's Telemundo,
Univision also owns the largest Spanish-language radio
broadcaster in the US (55 stations, most acquired from
Clear Channel). It includes music
company and online operations.
The Univision corporate site is here.
history
The first Spanish-language television stations in the
US were established in 1961 as part of Televisa's
Spanish International Network (SIN), which expanded to
sixteen stations by the mid-1970s and in 1976 became the
first US network to be connected by satellite.
It was structured to get around restrictions on foreign
ownership of US radio and television stations. Mexico's
Azcárraga family - which controlled Televisa - owned 20%
of SICC (the license holding company), maintaining control
through US business partners and by owning 75% of SIN,
the network and business arm that provided programming
and handled advertising on SIN.
In 1986 the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
forced divestiture after ruling that Televisa had breached
those restrictions. US media figure A[ndrew] Jerrold Perenchio
(1931- ) failed to acquire SIN, which was instead acquired
by a junk bond consortium centred on the Hallmark greeting
cards group and renamed Univision. Most programming on
the new network continued to be provided by Televisa.
The ailing consortium sold Univision in 1992 to a group
of US and overseas investors that included Perenchio,
Cisneros and Televisa. The
latter groups currently provide the imported content;
Univision also develops news/current affairs, educational
and entertainment content within the US. Perenchio became
chair and chief executive of Univision. He acquired most
voting rights - consistent with US broadcasting restrictions
- although a substantially smaller share of the equity.
Cisneros' Venevision and Televisa each took a 12.5% stake.
In June 2002 Univision acquired Hispanic Broadcasting,
the leading US Spanish-language radio broadcaster (55
stations, including the top Spanish stations in nine of
the leading markets) from Clear
for US$3.5 billion. Acquisition reflected Univision's
substantial growth during the preceding decade, which
saw it gain over 80% of the Spanish-language market in
the US by 1999.
In June 2006 Univision agreed to be acquired for US$11
billion by a private equity consortium that includes Haim
Saban, Madison Dearborn Partners,
Providence Equity Partners,
Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H Lee Partners. Saban had
earlier sought to acquire the German Kirch broadcasting
and film production group. Lee had major stakes in publisher
Houghton Mifflin (unloaded by the ailing Vivendi)
and Warner Music. Providence
Equity and Texas Pacific had joined with Sony
in takeover of MGM. Univision was
subsequently rebadged as Univision Communications.
In March 2008 Univision Communications sold Univision
Music Group (including Univision Records, Fonovisa Records,
Disa Records, Univision Music Mexico and Univision Music
Publishing) to Universal Music
Group for a reported US$100 million.
Perenchio
Perenchio joined Music Corporation of America (MCA)
in 1958 as a talent agent, becoming a protégé
of MCA czar Lew Wasserman before forming his own agency
in 1963.
During 1971 he helped to promote the Ali-Frazier heavyweight
boxing match between Muhammad, with responsibility for
handling the fight on closed-circuit television. Together
with producer Norman Lear he formed Embassy Communications
and independently became a key figure in US syndicated
and pay-per-view television. In 1985 Embassy was acquired
by Coca-Cola for US$485 million and ultimately unloaded
as part of Coke's 1989 sale of Columbia Pictures to Sony).
Perenchio committed around US$50 million in 1992 as part
of the acquisition of Univision, recouping US$700 million
through sale of half of his stake in 1998. He retained
20% of Univision's equity and controlled 78.5% of the
voting shares. As noted above, the Azcarraga and Cisneros
interests each bought 12.5%, the maximum allowed by the
FCC. That stake - and ongoing provision of content from
south of Texas - resulted in claims that Perenchio was
a front for the Latin American broadcasters.
Studies
There is currently no major English-language study of
Univision or Perenchio.
For the US market and telenovelas we recommend Arlene
Dávila's Latinos, Inc. The Marketing and Making of
a People (Berkeley: Uni of California Press 2001).
Elizabeth Fox's drier Latin American Broadcasting:
From Tango to Soap Opera (Luton: Uni of Luton Press
1997) offers insights about markets and production in
Central and Southern America. Fox's Latin Politics,
Global Media (Austin: Uni of Texas Press 2002) - co-edited
with Silvio Waisbord - is indispensable.
MCA and Wasserman feature in works such as Connie Bruck's
When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman,
Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence (New
York: 2003), The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA &
the Hidden History of Hollywood (New York: Random
1998) by Dennis
McDougal and William Knoedelseder's Stiffed: A True
Story of MCA, the Music Business & the Mafia (New
York: Harper 1994).
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