Insidus

Friday, August 27, 2021

New Series Alert: A Shelter For Love Coming Soon To TLNovelas Africa

TLNovelas is set to introduce a romantic drama which also serves a remake to the Venezuelan telenovela, La Zulianita in the month of September titled A Shelter For Love.

A Shelter For Love (Un Refugio Para El Amor) follows the love story of Luciana, a beautiful and joyful young girl who, after her father's death, escapes from the sexual harassment to find love.

Zuria Vega and Gabriel Soto star as the main protagonists, while Laura Flores, Jessica Coch, Humberto Elizondo and Frances Ondiviela star as the main antagonists.

The series debuted 7 years ago in Mexico and during its run the lead actress managed to bag two awards which were Best New Talent Of The Year at the 2012Premios People En Español and alongside Gabriel Soto they won Favourite Couple at the Los Favoritos Del Público.

Other shows set to debut on the channel later that month is My Sweet Curse while Telemundo will introduce their family sitcom, Loli's Luck.

TLNovelas is available on StarSat and StarTimes full-time and at the moment listed as a pop-up channel on DStv.

September 2021 On Da Vinci Kids Africa | 3 New Animated Series | Xploration DIY SCI Continues

PREMIERES AND SPECIALS
Kids Programmes
Addison – NEW
20x15 mins
From September 6th – Every day 08:15
Funny, adventurous and playful, in each episode, seven-year-old Addison and her friends are trying to figure out what’s behind the latest neighbourhood mystery. They never give up, always stick together and are not afraid of anything.

Kosmix – NEW
26x5 mins
From September 6th – Every day 08:30
Little robot Kit tells stories about his journey to the end of the galaxy and back to Earth. But the universe can be a dangerous place and Kit often gets in trouble. Join him in this space adventure and learn more about our solar system, comets and planets.

Cubs – NEW
26x2 mins
From September 6th
Cubs is a unique collection of short films that tell the bedtime story of some of the most adorable and mysterious animals, from elephants and whales, to kangaroos, flamingoes, platypuses and bees.

Continuing Kids Programmes
Xploration DIY SCI – NEW EPISODES
Fridays 16:00

Early Morning with Da Vinci
Every day from 06:00
06:00Art with Mati and Dada
06:15Mily Miss Questions
06:30Siesta Z
06:45 The Treehouse Stories
07:00PinCode
07:30The Fixies
07:45Darwin & Newts
08:15Addison
08:30Kosmix

September 2021 On Nick Africa | New Series Alert: The Astronauts | 10 Returning Shows Including Lego City Adventures And Ricky Zoom | Endless Coffins (Repeats)

Nickelodeon:

SIDE HUSTLE SEASON 1
NEW EPISODES | #114 -120
Side Hustle follows best friends, smart and sarcastic Lex and confident and tough Presley, as they devise a plan to make money when fireworks accidentally destroy a boat belonging to the dad of their quirky friend and neighbour, Munchy.
SUNDAYS FROM 01 SEP – 17 OCT AT 19:30 WAT / 18:30 CAT / 17:30 EAT

HUNTER STREET SEASON 4
NEW EPISODES | #411 - 420
The lives of a group of foster kids are changed forever when they become a part of the Hunter family and get tangled up in all of the family's mysteries. When things go wrong or someone goes missing, the kids must work together to make things right.
WEEKDAYS FROM 06 – 17 SEP AT 19:30 WAT / 18:30 CAT / 17:30 EAT

LEGO CITY ADVENTURES SEASON 3
NEW SEASON! | #301-311
LEGO City Adventures is a character-driven series of funny, smart, kinetic slices of life that explores the misadventures of a community of unique characters. A rollercoaster ride of fun, humour and action make this a boundless series of silliness!
WEEKDAYS FROM 13 – 25 SEP AT 16:30 WAT / 15:30 CAT / 14:30 EAT

THE ASTRONAUTS SEASON 1
NEW SERIES! | #101-110
Five kids accidentally launch aboard a spacecraft meant to intercept a mysterious asteroid in space. With no proper training, parents millions of miles away, and a malfunctioning onboard AI, the kids must work together to find their way back home.
WEEKDAYS FROM 20 SEP – 01 OCT AT 21:30 WAT / 20:30 CAT / 19:30 EAT

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
NEW SEASON | #201-206
A group of kids calling themselves the Midnight Society meet every week around a campfire to tell terrifying horror stories. But their love of all things scary is put to the test when the real world starts to become as spooky as one of their tales..
SUNDAYS FROM 26 SEP – 31 OCT AT 21:30 WAT / 20:30 CAT / 19:30 EAT

ALVINNN!!! AND THE CHIPMUNKS SEASON 5
NEW EPISODES | #507 - 511
ALVINNN!!! and The Chipmunks, featuring international superstars Alvin, Simon and Theodore, takes us on a roller coaster ride of music, laughter and stories geared to entertain The Chipmunks’ four generations of fans.
WEEKDAYS FROM 26 SEP – 08 OCT AT 14:30 WAT / 15:30 CAT / 16:30 EAT

DANGER FORCE SEASON 1
NEW EPISODES | #114-120
Captain Man has a new crew of superhero sidekicks - Danger Force! Captain Man and Schwoz create and run an undercover school to train the gifted kids to harness their amazing but uncontrollable superpowers to fight crime.
SUNDAYS FROM 15 AUG – 26 SEPT AT 19:00 WAT / 18:00 CAT / 17:00 EAT

THE SUBSTITUTE SEASON 2
NEW SEASON | #201-220
The Substitute is a hidden camera prank show, where celebrities are transformed by a team of special effects artists to go undercover as substitute teachers to surprise a class of unsuspecting students.
MON -THU FROM 23 AUG –07 SEPT AT 19:00 WAT / 18:00 CAT / 17:00 EAT

Nick Jr:

THE ADVENTURES OF PADDINGTON
BRAND NEW SEASON 2 #201 - 206
The Adventures of Paddington is a new version of a familiar bear. It's a heartwarming show about being curious, being good to others, and being part of a lovingfamily.
WEEKDAYS | 6 TO 17 SEPTEMBER
07:05 WAT / 08:05 CAT / 09:05 EAT
ENCORES: THE SAME DAY AT 16:35 WAT / 17:35 CAT / 18:35 EAT

PAW PATROL
STUNT
EPISODES: S6 #996, S7 #720, S1 #108, S7 #722, S1 #125a, S2 #220a, S7 #723, S5 #504b, #508a, S7 #724.
PAW Patrol is a preschool series starring a pack of six heroic puppies: Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, and Skye, who are led by a tech-savvy 10-year-old boy named Ryder.
SATURDAY 25 & SUNDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 11:00 WAT / 12:00 CAT / 13:00 EAT

BLUE'S CLUES AND YOU!
BRAND NEW EPISODES!
EPISODES: S2 #210, 215 - 219
Blue, a preschool-aged puppy with a clue – three, actually! Each episode, Blue leaves paw prints on three things around her house to tell us what she wants to do. Her excited new friend and caregiver Josh looksfor the clues, puts them in his Handy Dandy Notebook, and then sits down in the Thinking Chair to figure out Blue’s Clues…but he can only do that with your help!
MON – SAT | FROM 27 SEPTEMBER – 1 OCTOBER 05:30 WAT / 06:30 CAT / 07:30 WAT
ENCORES: THE SAME DAY AT 17:30 WAT / 18:30 CAT / 19:30 EAT

Nicktoons:

Looks like NickDead this month I wouldn't be shocked if it got discontinued.

RICKY ZOOM
NEW SERIES! | EP 201 -224
WEEKDAYS | 6 – 21 SEP AT 10:05 WAT / 11:05 CAT / 12:05 EAT
Meet Ricky! Built for speed, he’s a little red rescue bike who shares his experiences with his loyal Bike Buddies Loop, Scootio, and DJ. Together they race around the sports track, try new stunts at the park, and zoom into every adventure!

Features themed episodes of various shows:

SPECIAL DAYS IN SEPTEMBER
Wednesday 8 September: World Literacy Day at 14:25 WAT / 15:25 CAT / 16:25 EAT
Tuesday 21 September: International Day Of Peace at 10:30 WAT / 11:30 CAT / 12:30 EAT and 16:40 WAT / 17:40 CAT / 18:40 EAT
Friday 24 September: Heritage Day at 10:30 WAT / 11:30 CAT / 12:30 EAT

SPORTEMBER
Are you itching to get out, stretch those muscles, play some sports, let your competitive side be free? well, Nicktoons is here to help!
WEEKDAYS 13 TO 24 SEP AT 18:05 WAT / 19:05 CAT / 20:05 EAT

SPRING INTO ADVENTURE!
SAT & SUN FROM 09:50 WAT / 10:50 CAT / 11:50 EAT
The sun is shining brighter, the leaves are a little more greener and things just seem better. Time to go out, fill those lungs with fresh air and find adventure!

September 2021 On ViacomCBS Africa | Two New Series Including Ridiculousness Spinoff | Returning And Continuing Series

Comedy Central:

MODERN FAMILY SEASON 11
WEEKDAYS FROM 15 SEPTEMBER @ 21:00
At the start of Season 11, Alex (Ariel Winter) is in Antarctica for his research, Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Dylan (Reid Ewing) are learning how to be new parents, while Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell) offer their advice; Manny (Rico Rodriguez) tries to get back with Sherry (Hillary Anne Matthews) while she's lending her voice to a commercial for Jay's (Ed O'Neill) dog bed business; Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) tries to get Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to confess throwing out his clown statue. As the season progresses, Gloria (Sofía Vergara) is involved in a rivalry with one of Phil's students, Jay is angry at his wife for working too much and never being home, and Luke (Nolan Gould) decides to drop out of college to work on an idea for a new app.

IMPRACTICAL JOKERS
WEEKDAYS FROM 13 SEPTEMBER @ 21:30
Four prank-loving friends compete in extremely awkward social experiments in this hidden-camera series. The loser must partake in a particularly abominable practical joke. Starring Brian "Q" Quinn, James "Murr" Murray and Joe Gatto.

ANTHONY JESELNIK SEASON 1
SATURDAYS FROM 4 SEPTEMBER @ 23:20
On Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik, the relentlessly acerbic comic sits down for intimate chats with his funniest friends. Anthony keeps guests like Tig Notaro, Kristen Schaal, Nick Kroll and Kumail Nanjiani on their toes as he lobs deeply personal questions at them, engages in insightful dialogues about the craft of comedy and takes unfiltered swipes at industry peers.

THE DAILY SOCIAL DISTANCING SHOW SEASON 27
TUESDAY - FRIDAY 14 SEPTEMBER @ 23:30
The Daily Show returns with a brand new season. Join Trevor Noah and his team as they take a satirical sideswipe at the latest in news and current affairs. Emmy Award winning irreverence from Comedy Central.

MTV:

WILD & OUT S15
THURSDAY 16 SEPTEMBER – 18 NOVEMBER 2021 AT 21:30 CAT
Wild 'N Outis an American sketch comedy and improv game show series that was created and hosted by comedian Nick Cannon.

MTV CRIBS S18
WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER -27 OCTOBER 2021 AT 21:30 CAT
A unique look into the lavish homes of some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry.

ADORABLENESS
THURSDAY 2 SEPTEMBER -4 NOVEMBER 2021 AT 22:00 CAT
A unique look into the lavish homes of some of the biggest names in the The new show, “Adorableness,” joins Rob Dyrdek’slong-running clip show as well as previously announced spinoffs “Deliciousness,” hosted by Tiffani Thiessen, and “Messyness,” hosted by Nicole “Snooki” Poliz.

SIESTA KEY S4
THURSDAY 30 SEPTEMBER – 23 DECEMBER 2021 AT 15:00 CAT
`Siesta Key' follows some young adults who confront issues of love, heartbreak, class and looming adulthood while spending the summer together in their sun-drenched hometown.

Sunday, August 22, 2021

FOX Will No Longer Be Available On DStv And StarSat From October

The FOX channel in Africa has turned into the walking dead with the last of its programming turning into a zombie schedule after Disney decided to end the channel on DStv and StarSat after 11 and a half years at the end of September, ripping away the ending of The Walking Dead from pay-TV subscribers across the continent.

In response to a media query, The Walt Disney Company Africa confirms that its FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) channel is ending on pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes and StarSat, as well as Zuku across sub-Saharan Africa at the end of September.

"On 30 September at 23:59 (CAT), the FOX channel across Africa will close," a South African spokesperson of The Walt Disney Company Africa says.

"As the television landscape and viewer consumption evolves, we continue to develop and review our products and services to ensure we are offering the best possible experience for consumers."

"We look forward to bringing consumers across Africa a vast array of factual, sports, and kids programming from our channels, including National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, ESPN, ESPN 2, Disney Channel and Disney Junior."

StarSat in response to a media query on Monday said that "the FOX channel will be offline as of 1 October, however FOX News will still air. This was a decision made by Disney to remove the channel". On StarSat the FOX channel has been available to Max and Super subscribers.

At the time of publication of this report MultiChoice didn't provide any answer in response to an urgent media query made Monday but comment will be added here if received. The FOX channel has been available to DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact subscribers.

Asked how pay-TV subscribers watching FOX will see series and their endings like the final season of The Walking Dead and whether that content would be made available on-demand somewhere else, Disney says that "all current premiere series will air their full seasons before the channel closes".

"While the channel will be closing, many titles that aired on FOX will be available on Star on Disney+ when the service launches in South Africa in 2022".

Asked if FOX will be replaced in time by another similar type of linear TV channel or whether it's not part of Disney's strategy to run a general entertainment channel anymore like FOX was, Disney has no definitive answer.

Disney says that "across the globe, we continue to invest in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and linear businesses, with the goal being providing our fans with multiple entry points to our content and our brand. We have substantial linear businesses in several markets including across Africa".

"We take a market-by-market approach and continuously evaluate our media networks business on an ongoing basis but have nothing else to announce at this time."

"Our number one priority is to bring customers the stories they love and our linear channels continue to be a compelling destination – including our genre-defining factual entertainment channels National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD, our action-pack sports channels ESPN and ESPN2, as well as our popular kids and family channels Disney Channel and Disney Junior."

Disney axed the FOX Life channel at the end of September 2020 on DStv and StarSat, and terminated Disney XD in the same month after nine years on DStv.

FOX's zombie-hyped start - and zombie ending

The FOX Africa channel started its linear broadcast life in May 2010 in South Africa as FOX Entertainment when On Digital Media (ODM) launched its TopTV satellite service (now StarSat) with several Fox-supplied channels that came and went over the years like FX, FOX Retro, FOX Life and FOX Crime.

FOX Entertainment rebranded to FOX from April 2013 after MultiChoice signed a new carriage deal to also carry FOX.

FOX became a solid B+ general entertainment channel coming close to rivaling premium channels like M-Net and BBC Entertainment over the past decade with shows like Falling Skies, Da Vinci's Demons, Empire, The Resident, Deep State as its first original Europe and Africa commissioned drama series, War of the Worlds recently and even stealing The Simpsons away from M-Net.

The biggest content contributor to the desirability factor of FOX as a TV channel however came in the licensing coup of AMC Studios' global zombie series hit The Walking Dead that started in October 2010 just as FOX began as a channel in South Africa and that is ending just as FOX is ending, with its 11th season that started on Sunday 22 August.

Ironically, after multiple seasons of doing both live late-night simulcast airings at the same time as in America, as well as "Express from the US" episodes where viewers in Africa saw The Walking Dead episodes within a day of broadcast after the United States, Disney is now ripping the show and how the story ends away from pay-TV subscribers who have been following it for a decade on FOX Africa.

Viewers of DStv, StarTimes and StarSat will not see any of the new weekly episodes of the concluding 11th season of The Walking Dead in August or September before FOX shuts down, with the show's latest season conspicuously absent from the FOX schedule.

Why FOX is ending

The FOX News (StarSat 261) channel from Fox Corporation will remain on StarTimes and StarSat but the axing of FOX Africa on StarSat and DStv is the culmination of the Walt Disney Company's corporate takeover of 21st Century Fox in 2019.

In May, Bob Chapek, Walt Disney CEO, said that Disney planned to close 100 of its remaining international FOX, FOX Crime and FOX Life channels, as well as several Disney Channel, Disney Junior and even some iterations of the National Geographic channels in various markets before the end of this year, from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, to Australia and across Southeast Asia.

Disney is shutting down these channels for two reasons: It wants to get rid of the "FOX" name in all its channel branding and assets, similar to how it renamed its studios of 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios and 20th Century Fox Television as 20th Television.

Secondly, Disney wants to take back its content tied up in linear TV channel distribution deals and consolidate its content to put it all on its own Disney+ video streaming service that it is rolling out globally, with Bob Chapek who earlier this month in its latest investors' conference call said that "our direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority".

Disney plans to launch Disney+ in South Africa from any time around June 2022.

Viewers noticed FOX sliding out of focus

In May, viewers became alarmed when they started noticing that the FOX schedule suddenly began to zombify with a lot more rebroadcasts and repeats and a dramatic decrease in new, first-run series on the channel than previously.

Worried pay-TV subscribers feared and speculated that the visible lack of volume of new content meant that the less energy and focus given to FOX was possibly signaling that the TV channel is going to be discontinued.

Disney in response to a media enquiry in May then responded very much with the same statement it did now, saying: "We continue to invest in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and linear businesses, with the goal being providing our fans with multiple entry points to our content and our brand. We take a market by market approach and continuously evaluate our media networks business on an ongoing basis but have nothing to announce at this time."

Impact on subscribers

The termination of FOX in Africa will hit StarTimes and StarSat and its subscribers, harder than MultiChoice and DStv subscribers since FOX has been the last remaining good general entertainment with American content left on StarTimes' channels line-up, whereas MultiChoice still has channels like M-Net and others to somewhat blunt the impact of FOX's loss.

StarTimes and StarSat subscribers, still angry after the loss of Discovery Family in late-January and the loss of more Discovery Inc. channels - StarTimes Real Time, Investigation Discovery, Investigation Discovery French, Discovery Science and Discovery Science French - since the beginning of this month, are upset about the end of FOX.

"I am so done with StarSat right now," said subscriber Loraine Ellis, echoing the sentiment of hundreds of StarSat subscribers on Facebook on Monday. "You have taken away multiple channels over the past year or so and replaced it with absolutely nothing. How are we going to watch The Walking Dead when the new season starts?"

Pay-TV customer Johan Kruger said that if FOX doen't show The Walking Dead "real soon everyone will resort back to piracy. We got all previous seasons at the exact same time as it aired in the US".

DStv subscribers in countries like Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania where price increases come into effect from September will likely wonder why they have to pay more but at the same time get less when the FOX channel is taken away.

Friday, August 20, 2021

New Channel Alert (Rumor): SABC Children Could Be In The Works

Earlier this year, I did a recap on SABC Children which is one of SABC's purposed channels for DTT which never came to light due to the poor management and the delayed switchover from analogue to digital television.

From what I remember, the channel is available as a digital channel on the Tuluntulu app alongside SABC Education which was there long before it was made available on DTT and TelkomOne.

Now there's a slight possibility that maybe the SABC plans to launch SABC Children which would serve as a complimentary channel to SABC Education as opposed to a rival.

Funny thing here is, SABC Entertainment might have been scrapped with SABC Encore still onboard which is probably for the best since they'd likely be following the MTV 80s and 90s brand which aired content from different timelines.

SABC Children joins SABC Parliament and SABC Encore as possible new channels from the SABC. Other channels SABC purposed in 2012 but never got the light of day include SABC Movies, SABC Health, SABC Music, SABC History, SABC 4 and SABC 5.

The odd thing about this is Go Digital SA has seemingly removed eMedia Investments set of channels ranging eMovies, eExtra and eToonz from the LyngSat area with e.tv being the sole channel there at the moment.

My estimated guess would be that SABC is cutting back on the expenses so they'll be adding their own channels to serve as placeholders for each brand.

SABC Children is probably replacing eToonz with SABC Encore replacing eExtra and SABC Movies replacing eMovies I mean it wouldn't make sense for it to be SABC Parliament.

With this in mind, it's seems very likely that the SABC plans to launch more channels as opposed to the second sports channel as well as the two long awaited entertainment channels for Openview.

SABC Sport And ESPN Launch A New Partnership

Following eMedia Investments with News & Sport, the SABC has concluded a distribution agreement with Walt Disney Co that will allow it to broadcast local and international live sporting events, news programming and a library of sporting content from ESPN.

ESPN, which is by far the top sports broadcaster in the US – akin to MultiChoice Group-owned SuperSport in South Africa – will provide the public broadcaster with the content for its SABC Sports channel.

This content will include European football matches, the SABC said on Friday. It represents an escalation of an intensifying war for viewers with MultiChoice, particularly as the content will be available on eMedia Holdings’ free-to-air Openview platform, which this week topped 2.5 million decoder activations in the South African market.

“ Dedicated slots will offer viewers a live English Championship match on Saturdays and a Dutch Eredivisie game on Sundays

“Kicking off this weekend is the premiere of two brand-new ESPN-branded football slots that will air each on Saturday and Sunday on the SABC Sports channel at midday during European football season.

The dedicated slots will offer viewers a live English Championship match on Saturdays at 1.30pm and a Dutch Eredivisie game on Sundays at 12.15pm, as well as highlights from US Major League Soccer and premiere football news round-ups from ESPN’s magazine shows, including the popular ESPN FC,” the SABC said.

Other sport
Other sport will include the World Indoor Championships from Serbia (March 2022), World Race Walking Championships from Belarus (April 2022), the World Championships from the US (July 2022) and the Basketball Africa League (selected matches in 2022). It has also licensed live boxing games and boxing content from ESPN’s extensive archives.

“This agreement is going to add significant depth to our current offering on the SABC Sports channel,” said SABC Sport GM Gary Rathbone. “With the addition of long-awaited regular live boxing events, as well more live football, athletics and African basketball, it’s clear that this partnership will deliver right across the board for our viewers.”

The SABC Sports channel is available on Openview as well on the SABC’s digital terrestrial television service. It’s also on TelkomOne streaming.

Prediction: G4 Expands Across The UK, Europe And South Africa Through Ginx Esports TV

G4 is an upcoming gaming brand from NBCUniversal which is scheduled to released by the end of the year in the United States and serves as a rival to SPI International's Gametoons and a spinoff to Sky's Ginx Esports TV.

The revived brand will feature new episodes of past series such as Attack Of The Show!, X-Play, G4TV Esports and Ninja Warrior. They'be even greenlit a new series which stars WWE superstar, Xavier Woods.

Even though, there hasn't been any indicator to a possible rollout it's very likely that it will launch under Ginx Esports TV since Sky is owned by Comcast that also manage NBCUniversal International.

It's also possible that some of the content seen on Ginx Esports TV will be scrapped for 'localised version' of G4's upcoming content seeing as both channels have original content in their respective markets.

Comcast recently partnered up with ViacomCBS International to rollout a new streaming service across Europe called SkyShowcase which will see the best of Peacock and Paramount+ rollout under one brand.

New Series Alert: My Sweet Curse Coming Soon To TLNovelas Africa + Televisa And Univision Merge

MY SWEET CURSE COMING SOON TO TLNOVELAS

It looks like TLNovelas might stick around on DStv for the remainder of September as the channel is set to introduce another telenovela, My Sweet Curse.

My Sweet Curse (Mi Adorable Maldición) follows the rumors persist that young Aurora is cursed because of her dark, difficult past. When she meets dashing Rodrigo, the two fall in love and join forces to prove that their relationship can survive all obstacles - including the supposed curse. Renata Notni and Pablo Lyle star as the leads.

It is an adaptation of the 2013 Colombian story written by Julio Jiménez titled Lola Calamidades, which most recent version, Bella Calamidades, starred Danna García.

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TELEVISA AND UNIVISION SET TO MERGE

Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. (“Televisa”), and Univision Holdings, Inc. (together with its wholly owned subsidiary, Univision Communications Inc., (“Univision”), announced a definitive transaction agreement in which Televisa’s content and media assets will be combined with Univision to create the largest Spanish-language media company in the world: Televisa-Univision.

The combination brings together the two leading media businesses in the two largest Spanish-speaking markets in the world: Univision in the United States, the largest Spanish-language media market by value, and Televisa in Mexico, which is the most populous Spanish-language market in the world. The resulting business will hold the largest long-form library of content in the world, a powerful portfolio of IP and global sports rights, fueled by the most prolific Spanish-language production infrastructure. The power and scope of these content assets are unmatched. In 2020, Televisa produced more than 86,000 hours of content across every genre and category, including sports and special events, dramas, newscasts, situation comedies, game shows, reality shows, children’s programs, comedy and variety programs, musical and cultural events, movies and educational programming.

Televisa will also contribute its four free-to-air channels, 27 pay-TV networks channels and stations, its Videocine movie studio and Blim TV subscription video on demand (SVOD) service; and the Televisa trademark. These media assets comprise the definitive market leader in Mexico.

The Company will further benefit from Univision’s market-leading assets in the United States which includes the Univision and UniMás broadcast networks, nine Spanish-language cable networks, 61 television stations and 58 radio stations in major U.S. Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico, and prominent digital assets including its recently launched AVOD streaming service, PrendeTV.

“This strategic combination generates significant value for shareholders of both companies and will allow us to more efficiently reach all Spanish-language audiences with more of our programming,” said Emilio Azcárraga, Executive Chairman of the Televisa Board of Directors. “Together, Televisa-Univision can more aggressively pursue innovation and growth through digital platforms as the industry continues to evolve. Our new investors at the SoftBank Latin America Fund, Google and The Raine Group are just as excited about the opportunities presented by this combination.”

“This transformative combination brings together the leading network serving U.S. Spanish-language audiences with the leading media platform in Mexico powered by the most powerful Spanish-language content engine in the world,” said Univision CEO Wade Davis.

“Televisa-Univision will emerge as the leading global Spanish-language multi-media company, uniquely positioned to capture the significant market opportunity for Spanish speakers worldwide.” Davis continued, “The composition of our new investor group reflects confidence in our strategy, the progress of our digital transformation and the magnitude of the opportunity ahead of us. I would like to thank Chairman Emilio Azcárraga for his confidence in us, to continue as partners growing the incredible company he and his family have built.

“We have been deeply involved with Univision for more than two decades, and we have never enjoyed a better relationship with our partners,” said Bernardo Gómez and Alfonso de Angoitia, Televisa’s Co-Chief Executive Officers. “We are creating a company which is a leader across multi-media categories, unified over the largest territories and with the scale and focus to deliver the most compelling content experience to Spanish-language consumers around the world. We are confident that this strategic transaction will maximize the potential of our Content segment, while allowing us to strengthen our balance sheet and focus on growth opportunities at our Telecom business.”