Univision : Ask Biography

Home | Broadcasting Network | Univision

Univision (-esuniβiˈsjon) is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to A.C. Nielsen ratings, largely due to telenovelas, other programming produced by Grupo Televisa, and the network's sports coverage, which consists almost exclusively of football (soccer). Joe Uva is the president and CEO of Univision Communications, the network's owner. In recent years the network has reached parity with the U.S.'s five major English language television networks, and is often a strong fifth, outranking The CW, with some fourth-place weekly placings during the summer months due to the network's consistent schedule of new telenovelas all 52 weeks of the year.

Univision is headquartered in New York City, after years of being in Los Angeles, and has its major studios, production facilities, and operations in Doral, Florida. In 2009, another television studio was announced, Univision Studios, to be built in Doral. Univision is available on cable and satellite in most of the country, with local stations in over 50 markets with large Hispanic and Latino populations. Most of these stations air full local news and other local programming in addition to network shows, and in major markets such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, Univision owned-and-operated station (O&O) newscasts are equally competitive with their English-language counterparts ratings-wise.

Univision was acquired on March 29, 2007 by a consortium led by Haim Saban's Saban Capital Group (who had previously owned the entity Saban Entertainment), TPG Capital, L.P., Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, and Thomas H. Lee Partners for $13.7 billion or $36.25 per share plus $1.4 billion in acquired debt. The buyout left the company with a debt level of twelve times its annual cash flow, which was twice the norm in buyouts done over the previous two years.