Hispanic

The total of $50.5 million was the result of record political advertising and higher retrans dollars partially offset by lower local and national ad revenue.

The Miami-set Armas de Mujer, which translates in English as Women’s Weapons, also is a switch for its stars, including Kate del Castillo of La Reina del Sur drama series fame (above).

The 15-year media veteran is promoted from executive producer to oversee multiplatform news efforts at the Telemundo-owned station in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

Univision said that ahead of its May 18 upfront presentation, it will hold an event for advertisers that will introduce the company’s new management and its new direction to advertisers. The new event — set for March 24 — will be titled “A New Vision at Univision.” Earlier this year Univision was acquired by a group headed by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis.

The long-term partnership kicks off with three new Telemundo-branded channels:Telemundo Al Día, Telemundo Realities and Telemundo Novelas

Univision has bought Spanish-language streaming service Vix as it gears up to launch its ad-supported domestic streaming outlet PrendeTV. Vix is available in the U.S. and throughout Latin America.

Univision’s PrendeTV streaming service will premiere this quarter with a group of blue-chip advertisers as launch partners, according to Donna Speciale, recently named president of advertising sales and marketing at the Spanish-language media company.

Spanish-language broadcast giant Univision today announced first quarter launch plans for PrendeTV, joining the crowded streaming market with a free, add-supported service created for the U.S. Hispanic audience. It will featuring premium 100% Spanish-language programming, debuting with over 30 channels and 10,000 hours of video-on-demand content in Spanish from global partners.

The company adds media veterans to augment monetization efforts fueled by Latinos’ growing video consumption across all platforms. Ezequiel Fonseca Zas is named SVP, revenue strategy and distribution and Malu Carmona-Botana joins as content monetization VP.

The appointments include veteran executives from ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia and Telemundo. Pierluigi Gazzolo fills the newly created role of president of Univision Communications Inc. and chief transformation officer, while Luis Silberwasser fills the newly created role of president of the Univision Television Networks Group, leading Univision’s national TV properties.

He joins the Telemundo Orlando outlet from KTLM Harlingen, Texas, to oversee multiplatform news operations.

The new ownership, in partnership with Televisa, says it will enhance Univision’s digital presence, deepen relationships with Hispanic audiences and communities, and create market-defining content for the next generation of Spanish-speaking viewers. Televisa will maintain its existing ownership and the Program License Agreement with Univision. Veteran media executive Wade Davis becomes CEO of Univision.

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s English-language, Latino-infused cable network El Rey will cease operations on Dec 31. The news comes after Univision announced last month that it had exited its minority position in the network and production studio created by Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures. El Rey has steadily lost linear distribution over the past year, with AT&T dropping the channel in January and Charter removing it in September.

NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Enterprises is restructuring its top management along content production and distribution lines, mirroring the overhaul implemented over the past few months at the rest of the company’s television units. Former Telemundo Networks programming chief Ronald Day (above, left) has been named president of entertainment and content strategy, while Peter Blacker (right), the Telemundo longtime ad sales leader and business strategist, has an expanded role in monetizing Telemundo content around the world as EVP, chief commercial officer and head of DTC licensing.

Fuse Media says the acquisition empowers its management team to take the cross-platform, multicultural media property to the next level in serving Latino, multicultural millennial and GenZ consumers.

Industry veteran René Santaella, previously at Sony and Disney, will lead the multi-platform Spanish-language media company’s digital transformation and growth.

Nearly 30% of the fact-checks published by these two television channels for the Whatsapp chatbot have been original stories, rather than translations.